Last week's tragic events in London demonstrate that the fight against terrorists never ends. As soon as Paul Martin returns from Britain, let's hope he deals with the issue of terrorists operating from Canada. However, if Ottawa's reaction to the verdicts in the Air-India trial is any indication, Mr. Martin will likely dither and dodge rather than do the right thing.
The federal government avoided calling a public inquiry into why and how the Air-India terrorists got away by appointing former Ontario premier Bob Rae to do a private study, behind closed doors, on whether a public inquiry would be of any benefit.
There are persistent suggestions that if the victims were not predominately Indian, there would have been swift and decisive justice instead of a bungled investigation. But the families of the victims are entitled to know how and why the disaster happened.
In the prelude to the Air-India bombing, fanatical Sikhs openly used violence and intimidation to gain strength and greater influence over a relatively peaceful and law-abiding Sikh community. The 1984 desecration of the Golden Temple by the Indian army led to angry demonstrations by Sikhs everywhere, especially in Vancouver. The fanatics seized the opportunity to promote their agenda of violence to achieve an independent Sikh homeland, Khalistan.
In a climate of apprehended terror, Canadian authorities failed to stop the murder of innocent people despite advance intelligence that some plot was under way and despite clues from the monitoring of the movements of the leading suspects in the impending disaster. Some suggest the Canadian authorities took no action because the threats seemed to be targeting a foreign government.
This easy rationalization overlooks two important issues. First, fanatics do not live by any rules except one: a willingness to break all the rules of a civilized society. Did the authorities not realize that a group of fanatics, protected by Canadian laws, willing to launch a terrorist attack against a foreign government, could just as easily attack Canadians?
Second, why would anyone stand by while fanatics used Canada to launch a terrorist attack on a foreign government? To allow the terrorists to plan and execute their attack from Canadian soil gives the lie to the boast that Canada is not a haven for terrorism.
Immediately after the bombing, our prime minister, Brian Mulroney, sent condolences to the Indian government. Aside from the obvious embarrassment of that message - because it was mostly Canadian citizens who died - in the minds of some, this message justified the allegations of racism. Many people believe the Canadian government did not take the matter seriously and failed to devote the resources and energy needed to bring the criminals to justice. Some still say this is because the victims were predominately Indian.
Ujjal Dosanjh, now our Minister of Health, once said the authorities saw the growing violence as just some brown people fighting amongst themselves. As a minister of the Crown, does he still believe this?
The Canadians I know would be shocked beyond belief if it were proved that racism played any role in the investigation. The increased terrorism since 1985 makes it imperative that our government prove that the failures of the investigation had nothing to do with racism. Otherwise, we give credence to the fanatics: to those who say that justice is not colour blind in Canada.
The police investigation had problems ranging from the erasure of crucial tapes to not arresting the suspected terrorists. There is a strong sense that if the government had put more into the investigation early on, the Air-India trial would have had a different outcome.
The federal government dismisses such concerns by saying the authorities have learned their lessons and the same mistakes would not happen today.
Consider the assumptions underlying such bland sophistry. Does the government really expect us to believe the individuals running the investigation over the last 20 years were not as intelligent and as dedicated to their jobs as the people in charge today?
To condemn the dedicated police officers and prosecutors in this way is irresponsible and reprehensible of the government. The fact is, the system failed. Empty promises of no failures in the future are not enough. Considering the horrendous consequences of failure, it is imperative that an independent commission of inquiry examine the causes of the failure as well as the steps taken to prevent another loss of innocent lives.
The most basic obligation of the state is the responsibility to protect its citizens. If someone suffers harm despite the best efforts of the government, then the state is obliged to use its resources and power to bring the criminals to justice.
We accept limits on our freedoms in exchange for the protection of the state. We give the government extraordinary powers, such as wiretaps and entry onto private property, to catch and bring to justice the criminals who attack our society and us. Credible evidence suggests the disaster could have been prevented if the government had acted decisively in time. The government failed miserably in its most basic obligation.
The families of the Air-India victims deserve a public accounting of what went wrong. We must refute the troubling allegations of racism directed at our institutions. As citizens, we need to know that our government did everything possible to prevent the disaster. The families of the victims have waited silently more than 20 years to get a measure of justice. So far, the government has failed them.
Now their only hope is that Mr. Rae will see the wisdom, and the utter necessity, for a public inquiry and force the government to do the right thing. It is the least we deserve at this late stage.
Sucha Ollek is a lawyer in Nanaimo, B.C.
