Prominent Hindu and Sikh organisations in British Columbia have called upon the Canadian government to break four decades of official silence and indifference by establishing a dedicated memorial and information centre to honour the victims of the 1985 Air India bombing—Canada’s worst terrorist attack.
With the 40th anniversary of the Kanishka tragedy approaching on June 23, two influential Indian-Canadian organisations—Khalsa Diwan Society (KDS), which manages the historic Ross Street Gurdwara, and the North American Hindu Association (NAHA)—have jointly written to Premier David Eby, urging immediate action to commemorate the 331 lives lost, most of them Canadians of Indian origin.
“The families of the victims have carried unimaginable grief and loss for forty years. They deserve more than silence. They deserve a place of honour, reflection, and remembrance,” the KDS and NAHA emphasised in their strongly worded letter.
#BREAKING | Hindu and Sikh organisations in British Columbia have written to David Eby (Premier of British Columbia), demanding the creation of a Memorial and Information Centre to honour the victims of the 1985 Air India bombing—Canada’s deadliest act of terrorism. The Indian… pic.twitter.com/H7aroMfo4I
— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) June 3, 2025
On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182, en route from Montreal to Mumbai, was obliterated mid-air off the coast of Ireland by a bomb planted in checked luggage. The explosion killed all 329 people onboard, including 268 Canadian citizens, many of Indian descent, and 24 Indian nationals. The bomb had originated in Vancouver and was placed on the plane by a suspect who never boarded. Most of the victims were families—parents, children, students—travelling home for summer vacations.
It was later revealed that the bombing was orchestrated by Khalistani separatists based in Canada, allegedly as revenge for the 1984 Operation Blue Star—the Indian Army’s action to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Despite clear intelligence warnings and known extremist activity, Canadian authorities failed to intercept the plot—a failure that continues to haunt families and human rights advocates alike.
In their letter to Premier Eby, the groups have laid out a vision for the Kanishka Memorial and Learning Centre, which includes:
- A Memorial Wall and Reflection Garden, etched with the names of all 329 victims, providing families a sacred space for grief and remembrance.
- A Public Learning Centre, housing exhibits, archives, and testimonies that detail the causes, events, and aftermath of the bombing, as well as the broader dangers of religious extremism and terrorism.
- Educational Programs to foster civic responsibility, historical awareness, and interfaith harmony among students and the general public.
- Spaces for Dialogue, including forums and seminars, to promote reconciliation and shared national memory.
“This would be more than just a monument. It would be a living institution—a warning against hate, a tribute to the victims, and a pledge of ‘Never Again’,” said a spokesperson for NAHA.
Despite the magnitude of the attack, the Air India bombing has been widely marginalised in Canadian public discourse. There has been no official day of national mourning, no dedicated educational syllabus, and no central memorial on par with tributes to other global tragedies like 9/11. Critics argue this is due to racial and political discomfort—many victims were brown-skinned immigrants, and the perpetrators were from a politically sensitive diaspora group.
Multiple Canadian commissions, including the Air India Inquiry Report led by Justice John Major, have sharply criticised the government’s apathy and investigative failures—ranging from botched intelligence handling to legal negligence. Yet, few lessons appear to have been institutionalised.
The Khalsa Diwan Society and NAHA have come together to assert that the Kanishka bombing was not an “Indian” tragedy, nor a religious conflict, but a Canadian humanitarian disaster rooted in violent extremism.
“Extremists may have had a Khalistani agenda, but this is not a Sikh issue. Sikhs and Hindus died together. Canadians died. We must stop viewing this through the lens of ethnicity and start seeing it as a national failure,” said a KDS representative.
With many survivors and victims’ families ageing, the demand for the memorial has become a race against time. The letter requests that the Kanishka Memorial and Learning Centre be inaugurated by June 23, 2025, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the bombing.
“The wounds are still fresh. Every year, we hold private vigils, but Canada remains officially silent. This is not just emotional neglect—it is historical erasure,” the letter concludes.
The organisations also plan to submit a petition with thousands of signatures to amplify the demand across provinces. Several members of the Indian diaspora, including parliamentarians, educators, and activists, are rallying behind the initiative.
