ONTARIO- A new memorial archive dedicated to Air India (AI) Flight 182 has been launched at McMaster University, Hamilton, to commemorate victims of the 1985 Kanishka bombing—Canada’s deadliest terror attack.
The initiative, led by Professor Chandrima Chakraborty, features physical and digital archives documenting the personal grief, historical significance, and under-acknowledged memory of the Air India tragedy.
Photo: The PrintAir India Flight 182 Kanishka Bombing
The Air India 182 bombing occurred on June 23, 1985, when a flight from Montréal–Mirabel International Airport (YMX) to Delhi via London was destroyed midair by a bomb planted by pro-Khalistan terrorists.
The blast killed all 329 onboard, mostly Canadian citizens, and remains the deadliest terror attack in Canadian history. The same day, two baggage handlers died at Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) in a related explosion involving another Air India flight.
Despite its magnitude, the incident has long been marginalized in Canadian public memory. McMaster University’s new archive addresses this silence through a community-driven, publicly accessible platform.
The project includes personal testimonies, inquiry reports, artifacts, and memorial publications, aiming to honour victims while fostering informed public discourse.
Photo: By Ian Kirby – Ian Kirby as seen on airliners.net, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10404974Archive Details
The Air India archive, housed in McMaster’s William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections and supported by the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship, includes:
- Pilots’ badges and personal effects
- Memorial books from victims’ families
- Seven volumes from the 2010 public inquiry report
- Testimonies from family members and key witnesses
Professor Chakraborty emphasized the project’s importance in humanizing the tragedy and countering historical neglect. She noted that while the archive is live, funding remains available only through March 2026, limiting digitization efforts. Donations are being sought to sustain and expand the project.
Events Fostering Memory, Dialogue, and Healing
The conference features panel discussions with victims’ families, artists, and academics. Key sessions include:
- Opening Remarks: Featuring leaders from McMaster and the Air India Victims’ Families Association.
- Archive Launch: Insight into the archive-building process from the project team.
- Family Roundtable: Personal reflections on loss and activism.
- Educational Perspectives: On how Air India is framed in teaching, media, and politics.
- Artistic Commemorations: Including a dance performance, poetry readings, and a film screening.
Day two includes panels on memorialization efforts and the cultural legacy of the tragedy, along with a curated discussion on developing a public exhibit. The event concludes with excerpts from Calorie, a new feature film exploring generational trauma tied to the tragedy.
Photo: Caribb | FlickrCommemorating the 40th Anniversary
To mark the 40th anniversary, McMaster is hosting a two-day public conference, organized by Chakraborty, fellow professor Amber Dean, and PhD candidate Maia Lepingwell-Tardieu. The event is designed to amplify the voices of survivors’ families and rekindle national awareness.
The organizers aim to reframe the bombing not just as a historical event but as an ongoing concern involving justice, memory, and recognition. They urge Canadians to acknowledge the tragedy as a central part of the nation’s history, not a distant or foreign issue.
The anniversary also arrives amid increasing scrutiny of Canada’s political approach to pro-Khalistan extremism.
Critics argue that the normalization of separatist rhetoric in Canadian politics and media has obscured its links to violence, including the Kanishka bombing. The archive seeks to provide historical clarity amid present-day ambiguities.
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