The final report of the Public Inquiry Commission, probing into the Air India bombing and Canada's failure to prosecute those responsible for the terror attack, will be released on June 17, officials said on Saturday.
“The Final Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 will be released in Ottawa on June 17,” Commission spokesperson Michael Tansey said.
The report will be released just before the 25th anniversary of the world's deadliest aviation disaster that claimed 329 lives.
The Kanishka bombing occurred on June 23, 1985, while the plane was flying over the Atlantic Ocean en route New Delhi from Montreal via London. Two others died in a related bombing at Tokyo's Narita Airport.
The former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, John Major, spent almost two years hearing more than 200 witnesses and reviewing 17,000 classified documents.
The attack was widely thought to be the work of Canada-based Sikhs, fighting for an independent homeland in India, who wanted revenge against Operation Blue Star.
Soon after the bombing, media reported the details of an alleged plot, but it took police about 15 years to charge anyone for the attack.
Inderjit Singh Reyat was the only person convicted in the case after he admitted to supplying bomb parts.
Two others, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 on murder charges related to the bombing.
A judge eventually found both men not guilty due to lack of evidence. Those responsible for the bombing were never found.
Families of the victims spent 21 years trying to convince the federal government to hold an inquiry into the attack.
The public hearings wrapped up in February 2008.
‘Bureaucratic quagmire’
But last year, other issues surfaced when more documents turned up raising questions about Transport Canada's security measures at that time and suggesting Canadian Security Intelligence Service was hindered in its efforts by a bureaucratic “quagmire.”
The extensive final report will consist of five volumes, spanning more than 3,100 pages in total.
Around 3,100 copies of the report have been published. The Commission also plans to publish four volumes of “research papers” of 1,300 pages.
