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Air India 182: New Questions
This week’s startling revelations raise new issues.
Like a long-buried bomb, Air India 182 exploded this past week.
The public inquiry into the disaster turned up two long-silent witnesses, both disturbingly credible. Ontario Lieutenant Governor James Bartleman told the inquiry he had seen a message saying AI 182 would be targeted within a few days. The Communications Security Establishment had intercepted it and passed it to Bartleman. He had taken it to the nearest relevant Mountie, and been told to butt out.
Bartleman’s story shocked the cops and spooks into major damage control, consisting mostly of trying to damage Bartleman’s reputation.
Then a former Sûreté de Québec dogmaster emerged from Vancouver Island retirement to set off yet another bomb.
Called to Mirabel on the night of June 23, 1985 to check AI 182’s luggage for possible explosives, SQ sergeant Serge Carignan arrived to find the plane had already been authorized to take off for England. Next morning he knew the scale of the disaster he could have prevented, though the RCMP never bothered to ask him about his small role in the affair.
Bartleman’s and Carignan’s unexpected answers have raised questions still more explosive:
Air India, we’ve learned, was demanding extra security. It feared Sikh extremists’ revenge for the Indian government’s storming of the Golden Temple the previous year. But after the bombings, did Air India, or the Indian government, publicly say they’d been denied protection? If not, why not?
Bartleman could remember the intercepted message, and the surly response of the Mountie. But he couldn’t recall the Mountie’s name, he had no copy of the message, and he seems to have told no one else—neither before the bombings nor in their aftermath.
Why would he have kept silent for 22 years, and why would he not have alerted his former colleagues and superiors before he spoke at the inquiry? Perhaps one of them might have dug the intercept out of an old file, or shown him he’d been mistaken about the whole thing.
Carignan’s silence is somewhat more understandable. The silence of the Mounties must have spoken volumes to him: They didn’t talk to him because they didn’t want to hear what he might say. He was still a cop, and cops don’t like to get other cops in trouble.
But once he was retired, why didn’t he speak up? Why did he leave it to his wife to contact the inquiry?
If these two men could hold their silence, others must have also: Traffic monitors in the Communications Security Establishment, Bartleman’s surly Mountie, the Mountie who invited Carignan to Mirabel, and the unknown official who authorized AI 182 to take off.
Rick Crook, a Vancouver cop, got wind of the plot in 1984, eight months before the bombings, and passed the tip along to a police intelligence unit in B.C.
Late last month he told the inquiry the case was taken out of the hands of the Vancouver police. Who made that decision, and who took over the case?
Some of these people are likely dead by now, but not all. Too dumb to prevent the bombings, they were smart enough to cover up their own incompetence -- and that of their colleagues -- for over 20 years. Perhaps the biggest unanswered question is whether any of them are now prepared to come forward with some answers. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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freebear
5 years ago
S.N.A.F.U.
Sounds to me like a lot of covering of donkey's behinds has taken place.
But you also wonder why we are only finding out now some 20 years later?
As to the Mounties, do they always get their own Man?
al_maki
5 years ago
RCMP Credibility
What bothers me most about this is after all the examples of deceit by the RCMP, in this case and the others of the last year, I can't imagine what they could say that I would believe. This is a terrible comment on a "security service". There was a poll in the Globe early this week asking whether people believed that things would improve after this inquiry and 71% of us thought no. I can't imagine Parliament, the only people with the power to deal with this, actually dealing with it. What an awful mess.
DPL
5 years ago
So the quebec cop and his
So the quebec cop and his explosive sinning dog gets called out as the RCMP dog handler wasn't available. He shows up only to find the aircrat has left. During the inquiry the RCMP clame the luggage was checked for explosives. The RCMP strikes again.
flattax
5 years ago
Air India just another big Liberal cover up
The federal Liberals under Cretin and Martin were so immoral and sleazy they covered up this for years. That is the real news here.
The Liberal party is still full of rot with many of the same party members.
The next inquiry should be about why did the Liberal party cover all this up and who was responsible.
Kudos to Harper and the Conservatives for uncovering this big mess, instead of shoving it under the carpet like the Liberals.
G West
5 years ago
flattax
What are YOU talking about?
Air India occured in 1985, remember?
Check your daytimer and the history books bud, Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark are the ones who mis-handled Air India - despite what you might read in Kim Bolan's columns in the Vancouver Sun.
DPL
5 years ago
G WEst has it right. Sme
G WEst has it right. Sme folks simply hate the Liberals and even moreso the NDP. No matter what the item is, it must be thier fault.
The assorted groups of "serve and protect folks" have made a bloody mess of this investigation of the Air India aircraft being blown up killing all on board. Seems there was a lot of advanced notices. I greive for the familes and they have every right to be upset, angry, and disgusted with the whole affair.
Fish-counter
5 years ago
Cover up the over up. How many blankets do you need?
This would be a big joke, were it not for the 329 victims and their surviving families, for whom we all have the deepest sympathy.
Between the RCMP and CSIS, I have absolutely no faith in the Canadian law enforcement agencies, or in our government's ability to do anything at all. They couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag with a pair of scissors.
Look at this list:
1. The Queen of the North sinks; two passengers die. No charges laid after one year. No explanation given for sinking.
2. Karla Homolka is free and on the street.
3. Clifford Olsen got $100,000 for telling where the bodies were.
4 .Robert William Pickton 49: RCMP 10 (years to even show interest).
5.RCMP burn farmer's barns in Quebec to vex the FLQ. (Je me souviens, mes amis).
Tomorrow, someone in Canada will be given a ticket for not wearing their seat belt. The RCMP are a joke.
In my opinion, the RCMP and CSIS should be charged with being accessories after the fact in the Air India bombing, and in all of the above cases. They are so incompetent, it can only be intentional. Heads should roll, and blood should flow.
That little incident in Mayerthorpe Alberta last year was a signal of signal incompetence. One lunatic took out four cops. Say no more.
The Keystone Cops had the saving grace of being funny. This isn't. I am ashamed to be Canadian, embarassed by the bungling of our cops and disgusted beyond words.
RickW
5 years ago
flattax
Dosanjh has it right. It's a racist thing.. [Rest of comment edited for offensive content --Tyee editor]
Fish-counter
5 years ago
Raw racism
If there had been one cop, or one M.P. on that plane, the case would have been solved in days. As it is, there are two men who are, according to the judge-juror who adjudicated this case, "probably guilty", roaming the streets.
This state of affairs suits no one, except the cops themselves. The entire community is done a grave dis-service. People like me have lost all respect for the RCMP. The entire community knows that criminals are going unpunished. And there sit the RCMP, like a great big fat doughnut, doing nothing. It reeks of conspiracy, with the law enforcement agencies squarely in the thick of it.
Same thing with the Queen of the North. Corruption and conspiracy to conceal the truth, even when innocent people die. It would not surprise me if someone decided to take the law into their own hands, and deal out justice with a rope. It would seem the best course of action, given the story so far. If that sounds extreme, consider the alternative.
You know the worst thing about this fiasco? In India, the Sikh community has moved on. Only in Surrey do they cling to the past. That is the downfall of multiculturalism. Small enclaves of the parent society calve off and fester, while that in the country of origin moves on.
It has the effect of polarising ethnic groups against one another. [Edited for possible legal concerns -Tyee editor].
RickW
5 years ago
So now it turns out that all
So now it turns out that all the bags weren't checked because it was wasting time and costing money!
If that is the case, then the BC government can send the bill for the $130 million Air India trial to whoever made that decision...........