Canada concealed key Kanishka report from India: document

Toronto, May 9 (PTI) In an apparent bid to limit civil
damages, Canada had concealed a key report from Indian
government on the 1985 Kanishka bombing, which suggested that
the plot was "planned and orchestrated" entirely in the
country, official documents showed.

The documents, produced by the Federal Department of
Justice for the Kanishka bombing inquiry, suggests that former
Prime minister Brian Mulroney's office, in 1985 and 1986,
tried to conceal a report from the Indian government about the
fact that the bombing was plotted entirely in Canada to avoid
civil damages.

The report included conclusion of Candian Mounted Police
(RCMP) in the Kanishka case, which suggested that the bombing
was planned and orchestrated entirely in Canada.

The Aviation Safety Board's (ASB) report prepared for
India's Kirpal Commission, which was investigating the
bombing, also reflected the conclusion of the probe.

But the ministerial briefing notes The notes called the
ASB report "potentially damaging" and suggested that it should
therefore not be given to the Indian government.

The notes released Friday show that the PMO, specifically
Brian Mulroney's senior adviser Fred Doucet, thought that
report didn't show Canada in the "best light."

All 329 people on board Air India Flight 182 died when
the plane crashed near Ireland on June 23, 1985.

At that time one of the memos reads: the safety board
may have perceived "itself as being in a position of possible
conflict," because its interests in aviation safety and
determining the cause of the accident were "possibly at odds"
with the government's interest in portraying Canada in the
best light possible.

After the new revelations, lawyers for the victims'
families have accused the Mulroney government of covering up
information to limit financial liability.

In a written submission titled "Cover-up to diminish
compensation," the Victims' Families Association said hat the
document which shows that the Prime Minister's Office was
involved in keeping a key Canadian Aviation Safety Board (ASB)
report out of the hands of an inquiry in India conducted by
Justice B N Kirpal, then judge of the Delhi High Court.

"The two documents provide further indication that in the
aftermath of the bombing there was a cover-up to limit the
release of information," says the submission to the inquiry
from Air India Victims' Families Association lawyer Jacques
Shore.

"Doing so, ultimately served to limit the amount of
financial compensation families of the victims would receive,"
it said.

Counsel to Air India Victims Families Association said in
his submission that these documents represent key evidence
that should have been presented during the inquiry for further
investigations.

Among the many new documents, is a statement on June 26,
1985, three days after the bombing, in which an agent with the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service said that an RCMP
officer in Richmond was looking into a CB broadcast
intercepted, "Tonight, tonight, VIA. Tonight, we are going to
bomb."

The victims' families' question whether this message was
intercepted before the bombing and what the RCMP did with this
information.

The public hearings ended more than a year ago and a
final report has yet to be issued as retired Supreme Court
Justice John Major is still writing his report.

But over the past year, federal government documents have
continued to be declassified and handed to the commission. PTI