Ground Broken On Air India Memorial

It will stand in a very peaceful part of Toronto and feature a sundial, marking the inevitable passage of time.  

That’s what a waterfront memorial to the victims of the Air India bombing will represent to the relatives of those who lost their loved ones in the worst terror attack in Canadian history.  

Ground was broken for the monument at Humber Park Friday, exactly 21 years to the day that the explosion claimed 329 lives off the coast of Ireland and changed hundreds of other lives forever.  

“Let this be a beacon of peace; let this be a beacon of saying ‘no’ to those who choose violence,” provincial Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle intoned as the shovels hit the ground.  

  “Let this be a beacon for those who choose to stand together in harmony and respect and tolerance. And that is what this memorial will be all about, is to stand up in defiance of the horrors of terrorism and in an act of defiance that we stand together with the 329 innocent victims, and especially the 82 victims that were children.”   

Even after so much time, the memories of those losses are strong in those who were left to carry on.  

“My brother-in-law was visiting India for a wedding with his young daughter,”  remembers Murally Subramanian. “She was just five years old.”  

The memorial will contain the names of everyone who lost their lives in the disaster and will overlook a wall of remembrance.

It comes as an inquiry into the tragedy opened in Ottawa this week.  

  With only one person ever convicted in the deadly plot, the tribunal plans to explore how the investigation that followed took place and whether it was botched as the relatives of the victims have long suspected.  

But it won’t have any legal power and won’t be able to assign any culpability.

 That disturbs former Premier Bob Rae, who’s been looking into the disaster.   “There are people walking around in Canada who know exactly what happened, and they’re not talking,” he charges.

The Toronto memorial will be ready for the families to visit at this time next year. Many remain ambivalent about it, realizing it’s a touching tribute but knowing about the still painful memories it will inevitably invoke.  

  “They can come whenever they feel lost or emotional,” suggests Renu Kacker, who lost a loved one to the terrorist attack. “They can come here and get some peace.”

There is already a sundial memorial to the victims in Ireland and similar tributes are now being planned in Vancouver and Montreal.