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PM marks the Air India anniversary
Distinguished guests, today we mark a solemn anniversary. We are here to honour the memory of those who were killed 26 years ago today, on Air India Flight 182, and to dedicate a memorial in their honour.
On June 23, 1985, 329 people, most of them Canadian citizens, boarded an Air India plane that had been named after Emperor Kanishka. Eighty-two of them were children, whose innocent eyes had never before seen the hatred of an ancient feud.
As they left the apparent safety and security of Canada, they had no reason to believe that cowardly plotters had unleashed a senseless, deadly fury. The men, women and children of Kanishka were killed in the worst act of terrorism in Canadian history.
The manifest of Flight 182 tells us that the suffering went beyond Canada and India and also touched families in Great Britain, the old Soviet Union, Brazil, the United States, Spain, Finland and Argentina.
Here in Canada, we learned that global terrorism had come to our door. Our country was slow to understand what had happened. We had believed ourselves to be safe - that terrorism was something that would only affect people in far-distant lands - and we believed it unthinkable that a terrorist act could be organized under our noses on Canadian soil.
Thus it was that, tragically, warnings prior to the bombing had been discounted, and, after the bombing, mistakes were made. Indeed, it was so literally unbelievable, that the truth was sadly slow to emerge, and after the event, shockingly little attention was paid to the distress of bereaved families.
Worst of all, this state of denial continued for some time. But, over the years, the truth finally did come out, and we faced the harsh reality. This atrocity was conceived in Canada, and its victims were mostly citizens of Canada. It was a national tragedy – our national tragedy – and one that required our national response.
Last year, on behalf of our predecessors, this government gave the families a long overdue apology. We are continuing to work with them and to do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again in Canada.
There is an important message that the families asked me to deliver last year and it’s worth repeating now. It is a message to my fellow political leaders of every party and at every level of government. We must denounce violent extremism at every opportunity. And we must also denounce the extremist organizations and individuals who advocate violence and often try to conceal it.
Generation after generation of new Canadians have set aside old-world divisions of language and religion to build one strong and united country. We simply cannot allow the bitter and the spiteful to import old hatreds to Canada. Likewise, Canada must not and can never be a safe haven from which terror can be exported around the world.
We as Canadians pride ourselves on our embrace of cultural diversity, but that embrace does not include those who wish to import old hatreds and to settle old scores in Canada. Canada must not, and can never be, a safe haven from which terror can be exported around the world.
Today, we dedicate a memorial that will stand in memory of the passengers of that flight of Air India.
Along with similar memorials in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Ireland, it will be a permanent reminder of the lives they lived, and of the ongoing moral imperative upon us to see that no such vile act plotted on Canadian soil, should ever again come to fruition.
And, it must remind us that the first and most solemn duty of government is to keep its people safe. It took far too long to learn the lessons of Flight 182. One of those lessons is that information is an important tool in the struggle against terrorism. We need to know as much as we can about terrorists, their tactics, and the best solutions to protect people.
That is why today, I am also taking this opportunity to announce that our government is launching the Kanishka Project. This will be a five-year, national research project to develop the information we need to frustrate terrorist conspiracies, and keep Canadians safe.
We will engage Canada’s best and brightest minds, and we will provide funding for publications, conferences and research projects – anything that can help us build the knowledge base we need to effectively counter terrorism.
The Kanishka Project is named in memory of everyone who boarded the aircraft, and we will ensure that the families of the victims are involved in helping to guide the project’s work.
The Government of Canada already declared that June 23 will be observed as Canada’s National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism. It is an annual date in which we will keep in our thoughts and prayers all those who have been slain in the name of hateful ideologies.
We shall remember not only the victims of Flight 182 who died on June 23, 1985, but also the 24 Canadians who perished in New York City on September 11, 2001. We will also honour the memory of soldiers, diplomats, aid workers and journalists who have been targeted by insurgents in Afghanistan, and we shall stand in solidarity with all families torn apart by terror, anywhere in the world.
Thank you. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you today, with all of your families. God bless you all. May God keep our land glorious and free.
