Canada is mourning the passing of the conservative patriarch and its 18th Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, who died on Thursday at the age of 84. Mulroney's death marks the end of an era in Canadian politics, leaving behind a legacy that is celebrated, critiqued, and, by many Indo-Canadians, deeply resented. Mulroney's landslide victory in the 1984 federal election ushered in a period of ambitious policy initiatives. Under his leadership, Canada witnessed transformative changes and controversies. The passage of time since his tenure, coupled with the tendency to speak kindly of the recently departed, has contributed to a generally positive recollection of Mulroney in the mainstream media. Moreover, his brand of conservatism, less polarizing than the current conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's pugnacious politics, adds a layer of nostalgia for a different era. But amid these kind reflections, a stark contrast emerges in the memories of the Indo-Canadian community. For them, Mulroney is forever linked to the mishandling of the government's response to the 1985 Air India bombing. On June 23, 1985, bombs planted by Babbar Khalsa terrorists on Toronto-Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay Flight 182 went off, killing all 329 people on board off the coast of Ireland. It was — and remains to this day — the single deadliest terror attack in Canadian history, with 280 victims being Canadian citizens, mostly of Indian heritage. Yet, Mulroney's initial response was to call up his Indian counterpart Rajiv Gandhi and offer condolences, as if it was not a Canadian tragedy. The message appeared to have been that brown people were not Canadian enough, regardless of their passport. This response set the tone for a series of missteps in investigations and trials, culminating in only one conviction — that of Inderjit Singh Reyat, who would walk out in 2016. Years later, a shocking disclosure of secret documents in 2008 indicated that Mulroney's office had actively prevented the release of a Canadian Aviation Safety Board (ASB) report to an inquiry in India in 1985-1986. Newspaper reports from that time reveal that the Canadian government, seemingly concerned about potential security errors contributing to the bombing, deemed the ASB report "potentially damaging" and argued against sharing it with the Indian authorities. The impact of Canada's apathy towards the Air India bombing, as mirrored by Mulroney's government, continues to linger. Despite subsequent governments acknowledging the incident as a Canadian tragedy, a recent survey by Angus Reid indicates that 9 out of 10 Canadians have little or no knowledge of the event. (Daksh Panwar is an Ontario-based journalist and broadcaster. Twitter: @Daksh280)
