We must always remain vigilant against terrorism
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Summary
35 years ago today, a Calistani terrorist group based in Vancouver, British Columbia, murdered 329 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in our history. On June 23rd 1985, Air India Flight 182 was headed from Montreal to New Delhi with a stopover in London. The Boeing 747 was approximately 120 miles off the tip of Ireland, flying in an altitude of 31,000 feet. The plane exploded and disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 people on board.
Transcript
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35 years ago today, a Calistani terrorist group based in Vancouver, British Columbia,
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murdered 329 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in our history. On June 23rd, 1985, Air
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India Flight 182 was heading from Montreal to New Delhi with a stopover in London. The Boeing 747
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was approximately 120 miles off the tip of Ireland, flying in an altitude of 31,000 feet,
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when a bomb planted on the plane was detonated. The plane exploded and disintegrated over the Atlantic
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Ocean, killing all 329 people on board, including 268 Canadians, 27 British and 24 Indian citizens.
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It was and remains the largest mass killing in Canadian history and was the deadliest act of
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aviation terrorism until the September 11th Al-Qaeda attacks in 2001. The subsequent investigation
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and prosecution was the most time-consuming and expensive trial in Canadian history. It cost
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130 million dollars. The report was finally released in 2010, 25 years after the initial terrorist attack,
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and it drew two major conclusions. First, it found that a cascading series of errors by the Government
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of Canada, the RCMP and CSIS had allowed this terrorist attack to happen. And second, it found
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that the Babar Khalsa terror group was responsible for the attack. Babar Khalsa is a Kalistani terrorist
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group made up of Sikh militants whose main objective is to create an independent Sikh country
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called Khalsa to carve it out of India, and to avenge a pogrom that happened in 1984, as well as
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Operation Blue Star, which was a military attack carried out by the Indian government against a Sikh temple.
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The cell responsible for the Air India attack was based in Vancouver, BC, and the mastermind of the
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attack was determined to be Talwinder Singh Parmar. He was never convicted, however, and was killed in a
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gunfight with police in Punjab in 1992. Sadly, and despite these facts, many Kalistani activists and sadly many
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Sikhs in Canada still openly praise and glorify Parmar. This is despicable and should be called out
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every single time. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was once among those who refused to accept that Parmar was
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the mastermind of the Air India attack. Here is an interview he did back in October 2017 with Terry
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Molesky of the CBC. Notice how he refuses to answer the question, attempts to change the subject and cannot
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unequivocally condemn Parmar or Calistani extremism.
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Do you think that some Canadian Sikhs go too far when they honour Talwinder Singh Parmar as a martyr of the Sikh nation,
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when they put up posters of him as a Shaheed, a martyr, when he was the architect of the Air India bombing?
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Well, I think it's so important that we really clarify a misconception that exists. There has been
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a lot of work and seems to be creating a conflict that's between Hindus and Sikhs. And for me,
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that's something that really offended me. I grew up with a lot of close friends and dear family friends
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that were from the Hindu faith that told me stories of how they actually put themselves at risk to save
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their Sikh neighbours. And so for me, one of my goals was to erase this false narrative of a Hindu-Sikh
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Forgive me, but you could do that right now by saying, no, it isn't appropriate to put up posters
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of Canada's worst ever mass murderer as a martyr. Do you think that's appropriate?
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Well, let me just clarify your point here. It's so important that we rid this notion that there's
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ever been a conflict between Hindu and Sikhs. It's never been the case.
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I don't know who was responsible, but I think we need to find out who's truly responsible. We need to
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make sure that the investigation actually results in a conviction of someone who's actually
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responsible. And we need to, as a society, collectively, unequivocally denounce any time
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innocent lives are lost. That is something unacceptable. All Canadians stand together,
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united against any forms of violence, terror against Canadians, and in fact against anyone
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around the world. It's also worth noting that after this interview, the left tried to accuse
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Terry Molesky of racism, saying that it was unacceptable for him to even ask these questions of Jagmeet
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Singh. Jagmeet Singh himself accused Terry Molesky of racism, saying, quote,
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it was offensive to me that that was even a question, unquote. Look, I'm no fan of the CBC,
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but on this issue, I am 100% on Terry's side. There is no room for model answers or obfuscation when it
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comes to the need to clearly and unequivocally condemn terrorism, especially when these pernicious
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rumors and conspiracy theories are so rampant. I'm pleased that Jagmeet Singh finally came around and
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now says that he accepts the facts and that he condemns Kalistani terrorism. In March 2018, Jagmeet said that he
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now rejects glorification of the Air India bombing and he accepts the findings of the investigation,
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namely that Talwinder Singh Parmar was the mastermind responsible for that deadly terrorist attack that
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killed 329 innocent men, women, and children. Today, we honor the victims and remember that evil act of
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terrorism. Let us always remain vigilant against terrorism and other threats to our security
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and our freedom. For True North, I'm Candace Malcolm.