This was a Canadian Tragedy: The Major Commission Report
- authored by CoHNA Staff
On June 23, 1985, Khalistani extremists detonated a bomb aboard Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland, killing 329 people—280 of them were Canadian citizens. But this wasn’t just a terrorist attack that happened to involve Canadians. Khalistani militants conceived, planned, and executed this mass murder on Canadian soil. Yet, Canada still struggles to own this tragedy or the institutional lapses and socio-political failures that made it possible.
This detail, found in declassified documents, highlights how the tragedy was initially framed. Despite the fact that most victims were Canadian citizens, the bombing was largely treated as an Indian matter.
There was no immediate national address, no flags at half-mast, and no formal period of mourning. The families felt their loved ones weren’t recognized as fully Canadian victims.
Indeed, it took the Canadian establishment more than 20 years to launch a full-scale investigation. In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed retired Justice John Major to lead a public inquiry into the Air India bombing. As a former Supreme Court justice, Major brought decades of experience in Canada’s highest court to bear on what would become one of the most damning indictments of institutional failure in Canadian history.
When Major released his report in 2010, he didn’t mince words. He concluded that a “cascading series of errors” by the Government of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had allowed the militant attack to take place.
Major’s investigation revealed shocking institutional breakdowns involving specific people and concrete evidence:
The Masterminds and Conspirators:
- Talwinder Singh Parmar: The mastermind and leader of Babbar Khalsa International who orchestrated the bombing
- Ripudaman Singh Malik: Vancouver businessman arrested in 2000 and charged with 331 counts of first-degree murder
- Ajaib Singh Bagri: Kamloops millworker also arrested and charged with 331 counts of first-degree murder
- Inderjit Singh Reyat: The bomb-maker who purchased the Sanyo stereo tuner used in the attack
The Destroyed Evidence:
- CSIS ordered the destruction of hours of wiretaps of Parmar to conceal the fact that their agent, Surjan Singh Gill, had penetrated the circle of Sikh extremists planning the attack
- CSIS pulled their agent out just three days before Flight 182 exploded
- An RCMP memo stated: “There is a strong likelihood that had CSIS retained the tapes between March and August 1985, that a successful prosecution of at least some of principals in both bombings could have been achieved”
A Distinctly Canadian Problem
Major’s report revealed multiple blind spots within Canada’s law enforcement system. For example, Parmar and his conspirators moved freely throughout the country while authorities had critical information on them that could have prevented the tragedy.
Authorities should have also known that Air India Flight 182 was a potential terrorist target, Major found. The intelligence was there. The warnings were clear. But Canada’s security apparatus failed to connect the dots.
The Price of Institutional Failure
The subsequent investigation and prosecution lasted almost twenty years and was the most expensive trial in Canadian history, costing nearly C$130 million. Despite this massive effort, only Inderjit Singh Reyat was ever convicted. Malik and Bagri were acquitted in 2005, despite facing 331 counts of first-degree murder each.
Parmar, the suspected mastermind, was arrested in November 1985 on weapons and explosives charges, but the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. He died in India in 1992 in what officials said was a shootout with police.
Why This Still Matters
The Air India bombing revealed how diaspora communities, racial assumptions, and institutional apathy can combine with deadly consequences. Major’s report was a wake-up call that many Canadians never heard. In an era of rising extremism and ongoing threats to diaspora communities, the lessons from his investigation remain urgent. Canada cannot afford to forget again.