MONTREAL — The Harper government will introduce a “comprehensive” plan this week designed to ensure a tragedy like the 1985 Air India bombing never happens again.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney called the plan a “road map” for counter-terrorism that will improve co-operation between national security agencies and police, strengthen airport security on both the passenger and cargo side, and make it easier to prosecute terrorists.
Kenney made the announcement at a ceremony on Sunday in Montreal, where ground was broken on the last of four memorials dedicated to the victims of the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history.
“This will be a comprehensive response dealing with the security, the legal, the operational, and other issues,” he said.
A total of 329 people died when the passenger jet they were on exploded off the Irish coast on June 23, 1985. There were no survivors.
Another blast at Tokyo’s Narita Airport an hour earlier killed two baggage handlers as they transferred a bomb-laden suitcase that was destined for another Air India plane.
Police believe Sikh extremists fighting for an independent homeland are responsible. Bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat — the only person ever convicted in the attack — apologized last month to the families of the victims.
The plan will be based on a hefty inquiry report by former Supreme Court Justice John Major that catalogued a litany of federal failures before and after the attack.
Major’s report released in June warned that holes persist in the system that protects Canada’s national security.
His key recommendation called for beefed-up powers to allow the country’s national security adviser to set security policies and priorities and oversee communication between agencies.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has apologized on behalf of the federal government but hasn’t acted on other recommendations made in the report, including a one-time payment to family members of victims.
On Sunday, Kenney said compensation was forthcoming, but gave few details regarding the amount. He suggested it would be far less than the millions received by the families of victims in other high-profile terrorism cases.
“Here we are talking about a lack of empathy on the part of agencies of the Government of Canada following the bombing, but certainly we have accepted the recommendation,” he said.
Jayashree Thampi, whose husband and seven-year-old daughter were killed in the attack, said she hopes the government takes steps to improve the safety of the aviation industry.
“Justice Major did a wonderful job with this report and the families are hoping that the government will take the recommendations very seriously and act upon it,” she said following the ceremony.
“It’s just not only for the family members, it’s for the safety of Canadians in general.”
Norm Boxall, former co-counsel for dozens of families who lost loved ones, said the government has taken “a really long time” to come up with a response to the report and a compensation package.
He said he’ll be watching to see if the plan includes firm commitments or simply entail “shuffling around some of the old ideas and pretending that everything has already been taken care of.”
Kenney said the memorial, located on Monk Island at a National Historic Site in the Lachine Canal, will serve as a place for quiet contemplation to remember the victims, many of whom were from the Montreal area.
There are also memorials in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver.
The Montreal memorial will be unveiled in the summer of 2011.