Air India 182 Families Push Back as RCMP Moves to Wind Down Kanishka Probe

Families of the victims of the Air India 182 Kanishka bombing have objected to a move by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to wind down its investigation into the 1985 attack, describing it as an attempt to close the case without accountability.

The families were called to a meeting with the RCMP in Toronto, where the force indicated its intention to reduce the Air India task force to zero investigative staff. Under the plan, only administrative personnel would remain, tasked with returning the personal effects of victims. The RCMP said it believed there were no further leads to pursue that could bring those responsible to justice, while suggesting that any fresh information provided by families might still be taken up.

The bombing remains the worst aviation attack in history. On June 23, 1985, two bombs exploded. One went off at Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers. The second detonated 54 minutes later over the Atlantic Ocean, about 90 miles off the coast of Cork, Ireland, killing all 329 people on board the aircraft. Among the dead were 86 children under the age of 13.

Relatives travelled to Cork in the aftermath, where identification work continued for weeks in a makeshift morgue. For the families, the trauma has been revisited with each anniversary as leads failed to materialise. In June 1995, the Canadian government announced a reward of one million dollars for information leading to the arrest of the conspirators, but no information came forward amid widespread fear among Canadians.

Charges in the case were filed only in 2000, nearly 18 years after the attack, and a costly trial failed to secure convictions. Witnesses were either murdered, including while under RCMP protection, intimidated, or had their children's lives threatened, and gave evasive testimony in the dock. Most were identified only by letters such as Ms A, D and E, reflecting the secrecy surrounding the proceedings and the shortcomings of the witness protection programme in the case and in dealing with Khalistani extremists.

The treatment of the victims' families was sharply criticised by Justice John C Major. Compensation for Indians was ignored, and Canadians of Indian origin were offered far lower amounts than those described as westerners. In an interview, the retired justice expressed pain over how Canada had viewed the tragedy, in contrast to its handling of other Canadian victims. Canada continued to treat it as an Indian problem rather than a Canadian tragedy, he said.

The RCMP's position comes months after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service publicly acknowledged that Canada-based Khalistani extremists were responsible for the bombing, in a statement marking its 41st anniversary on June 23, 2026. Families have pointed to the contrast between that admission and the RCMP's assessment that there is nothing further to investigate.

The RCMP has also informed families that it is communicating with the Indian government for the release of the wreckage and personal effects of the victims. Families have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that they will not accept a summary closure of the hunt for the killers.

Questions remain over the list of persons of interest who were never interrogated or questioned; the RCMP declined to comment on what it described as an ongoing investigation. Families have asked why no trial has been held in the death of Tara Singh Hayer, despite the likelihood that the group behind the bombing plot also killed him to prevent him from testifying. They have also asked what will be done with the unspent and unclaimed reward, and why it has not been enhanced and reissued with a national appeal for information.

The families' objections also come as the second Lockerbie criminal trial is set to begin in New York in autumn 2026, and in the shadow of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. They have cited the pursuit of perpetrators in other cases, some lasting more than three decades, to argue that justice should continue to be pursued.