RCMP Exhausts Investigative Avenues in Air India Flight 182 Bombing 41 Years Later
Forty-one years after the Air India Flight 182 bombing killed 329 people, the RCMP says it has exhausted current investigative avenues. Only one person was convicted, and victims' families are now appealing to Prime Minister Mark Carney for justice amid low public awareness of Canada's deadliest terrorist attack.
Forty-one years after a bomb destroyed Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, the RCMP has stated that it has exhausted its current investigative avenues into the attack, which remains Canada's deadliest terrorist incident.
Only one individual, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was convicted for making the bomb. Two other accused men, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted. The lack of further convictions has left victims' families without full justice and contributed to an erosion of public trust in state institutions.
A 2010 Commission of Inquiry led by John Major concluded that a "cascading series of errors" by the RCMP and CSIS contributed to the failure to prevent the bombing. That same year, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology for institutional failings and the treatment of victims' families.
Despite the scale of the tragedy, public awareness remains limited. A 2025 Angus Reid Institute survey found that only 17 per cent of Canadians could identify the Air India bombing as Canada's deadliest terror attack, while 32 per cent of respondents had never heard of it. This limited national mourning has deepened the isolation of victims' families from the wider community and added to their continued psychological burden.
Families have written letters to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree requesting meetings and renewed efforts toward accountability and recognition from Canadian institutions.