Sunday, July 5, 2026
ADVT 
National

Canada Must Guard Against Terrorism: PM Harper

IANS, 24 Jun, 2015 12:56 PM
    Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism and so "continued vigilance is essential", Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said.
     
    Harper made the remarks on Tuesday while laying a wreath in the Hall of Honour to mark the "National day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism" observed to honour those killed in the 1985 Air India bombing.
     
    An Air India flight flying from Toronto to London crashed off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board. Most of the dead were Canadians of Indian origin. 
     
    Sikh extremists were blamed for the bombing.
     
    Harper said he cannot "help but cast his mind back to the Canadians who perished in Air India Flight 182 and in the World Trade Centre attacks... and to the many terrorist activities foiled by the vigilance of Canadian security agencies.
     
    "The recollections serve as a reminder that Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism and that continued vigilance is essential."
     
    Addressing a gathering in parliament building here, he said it was a terror attack that killed the 329 passengers and crew members aboard Air India. 
     
    "On this sombre anniversary, we stand in solidarity with the friends and families who lost loved ones in that heinous attack and honour those lost.
     
    "We were deeply moved by this solemn tribute as well as by our meeting the kin of the victims," he added.
     
    Among the kin of the victims present was Susheel Gupta, whose mother Ramvati died in the bombing. Gupta said he regretted that his children would not be able to meet their grandmother.
     
    Meanwhile, a memorial service in Ireland was attended by India's Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan and Canadian Minister of Justice Peter MacKay.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    B.C. Teachers Vote in Favour of Agreement End Strike, Pull Down Pickets For School To Start

    B.C. Teachers Vote in Favour of Agreement End Strike, Pull Down Pickets For School To Start
    Results of a provincewide vote were announced late Thursday, with 86 per cent of the 31,741 teachers who cast ballots voting in favour of the agreement.

    B.C. Teachers Vote in Favour of Agreement End Strike, Pull Down Pickets For School To Start

    Scotland Referendum disappoints some Scottish-Canadians

    Scotland Referendum disappoints some Scottish-Canadians
    VANCOUVER - Nay may have won the day, but Caledonian-Canadians who supported Scottish independence in Thursday's historic referendum say their dream isn't dead, and at the very least change to the political system is coming.

    Scotland Referendum disappoints some Scottish-Canadians

    Pickets For Pencils: B.C. Teachers Head Back To Classrooms

    Pickets For Pencils: B.C. Teachers Head Back To Classrooms
    VANCOUVER - B.C. Education Minister Peter Fassbender says he hopes the relationship between teachers and the province can be healed over the next five years of labour peace under the hard-fought new contract.

    Pickets For Pencils: B.C. Teachers Head Back To Classrooms

    Serena Vermeersch, Missing Teen, Found Dead in Surrey. Police Search For A Male Suspect

    Serena Vermeersch, Missing Teen, Found Dead in Surrey. Police Search For A Male Suspect
    SURREY, B.C. - RCMP are asking for the public's help in finding a man who may have been involved in the murder of a 17-year-old girl in Surrey, B.C.

    Serena Vermeersch, Missing Teen, Found Dead in Surrey. Police Search For A Male Suspect

    B.C. Teachers Cast Ballots On Bittersweet Contract Deal With Province

    B.C. Teachers Cast Ballots On Bittersweet Contract Deal With Province
    VANCOUVER - The mood was bittersweet Thursday as British Columbia teachers cast ballots on a tentative contract deal that could bring down picket lines and put them back in the classroom.

    B.C. Teachers Cast Ballots On Bittersweet Contract Deal With Province

    RCMP: Death Of 17-year-old Girl Last Seen Boarding Bus In Surrey Deemed Homicide

    RCMP: Death Of 17-year-old Girl Last Seen Boarding Bus In Surrey Deemed Homicide
    The death of a 17-year-old girl in Surrey, B.C., has been deemed a homicide. RCMP were to hold a news conference later Thursday into the case of Serena Vermeersch, whose body was found Tuesday night.

    RCMP: Death Of 17-year-old Girl Last Seen Boarding Bus In Surrey Deemed Homicide