The Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, followed by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien, repeatedly deferred to the advice of the RCMP who urged politicians to wait for the completion of civil and criminal court proceedings before appointing a commission of inquiry.
Some victims’ relatives never stopped calling for an inquiry.
The families got together in the mid-1990s as the police investigation wound down with little to show for its work. Mr. Reyat had been convicted for his role in providing parts for a bomb that exploded at Japan’s Narita airport on the same day, killing two baggage handlers and injuring four others. He was later charged and convicted in the Air India bombing.
When the families appeared to be making headway, the RCMP pre-empted the campaign with the announcement of a $1-million reward for information, which lead to Mr. Reyat’s conviction in the Air India case. A new team of investigators were appointed. Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were charged with the murder of 329 people in Air India in 2000, but in 2005, a B.C. Supreme Court judge did not find the evidence credible.
After that, the families again demanded an inquiry. The federal government was reluctant. The families finally got a judicial inquiry in the spring of 2006, after the Harper Tories campaigned in a federal election on the promise of appointing a commission.
However even the current inquiry, which looked into the investigation of the bombings rather than criminal responsibility, will not satisfy all the families.
Some say they want a clear understanding of who did it and they want to see the culprits held accountable. The Major Commission did not answer those questions.
Family members have said they feel Ottawa was trying to avoid liability for the disaster in order to avoid compensation claims. Air India paid out compensation to families in the late 1980s, backed up by a fund financed in part by Ottawa. However Ottawa has never acknowledged any liability for the role of its agencies in the disaster.
