Toronto unveils memorial for victims of Air India Flight 182 tragedy

Toronto, Canada: On Saturday, 23 June 2007, twenty-two years to the day after the tragic bombing of Air India Flight 182, a memorial was unveiled in Toronto honouring the 329 men, women and children who died when the flight went down off the coast of Ireland.

Prime minister Stephen Harper, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller spoke at the ceremony.

Representatives of the families of the victims of the tragedy said the memorial would help close a chapter and provide a place to grieve the loved ones lost on June 23, 1985, off Ireland and also in a related bombing at Japan's Narita airport on the same day.

Only one man has ever been convicted in the attacks, Inderjit Singh Reyat, who received a sentence of five years in prison in 2003 after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. He was convicted on lesser charges of manslaughter and with assisting in the construction of the bomb.

A public inquiry into the disaster, led by former Supreme Court justice John Major, will resume its work after taking a break for the summer. The inquiry has already revealed a murky haze of evidence, and claims, that already point to willful negligence on part of Canadian security authorities in averting the disaster at the worst, and criminal incompetence at the very least.

The City of Toronto donated the land for the memorial, as well as expertise to help with the planning  and management of the project. The federal and provincial government donated funds for the project.

A NASA spokesperson said that test results on Monday confirmed that computer systems on the ISS were working sufficiently to allow the Atlantis to depart on schedule.