For the families of the 329 people killed aboard Air India Flight 182, the search for justice has effectively reached another dead end. Four decades after Canada’s deadliest terrorist attack, the RCMP says it has exhausted its current investigative avenues.

This is not an isolated development; rather, it is the latest manifestation of a longstanding pattern of institutional failure that continues to raise concerns about accountability, confidence in public institutions and the state’s responsibility toward victims’ families.

The bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, en route from Toronto to New Delhi via Montreal, killed everyone on board. A criminal investigation, the longest and most expensive in Canadian history, resulted in the conviction of one person. British Columbia resident Inderjit Singh Reyat, now out on parole, was found responsible for making the bomb. Two other B.C. residents, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were both found not guilty and acquitted.

The failure of the Canadian state and its agencies to hold those responsible for the deaths of its citizens and permanent residents has long haunted this so-called “Canadian tragedy,” undermining public trust and leaving families without a meaningful sense of justice.

The government and law enforcement agencies should take responsibility for their past failures, steadfastly work to bring perpetrators to justice and ensure that remembrance is linked to justice.

The consequences of this tragic event extend beyond the courtroom. Public mourning and remembrance of the bombing have also remained limited. Despite June 23 being a nationally recognized Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism, a 2025 survey by the Angus Reid Institute found that approximately one in five (17 per cent) Canadians were able to identify the Air India bombing as Canada’s deadliest terror attack, while one-third (32 per cent) of the respondents had never heard of it.

For 41 years, the families of those who lost loved ones have repeatedly had to struggle........

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