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MEMORIAL SUNDIAL REPAIRED

AIR INDIA FLIGHT 182 

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The Air India Flight 182 Memorial Sundial designed by R. Bouwmeester & Associates and unveiled by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on June 23, 2007, was vandalized in the Spring of 2010.  The story of our design and the unveiling in 2007 can be found here, while media articles about the vandalism can be viewed here - Global TV, Toronto Sun.

The sundial was repaired by the City of Toronto just in time for the 25th anniversary of the bombing (June 23) which saw another special ceremony at the site highlighted by an address by Prime Minister Harper in which he apologized "to the families of those killed in the Air India terrorist attack, acknowledging that for decades they were treated with "scant respect."

"For that, we are sorry," Harper said in a speech in Toronto during a memorial marking the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.

"For that, and also for the years during which your legitimate need for answers and indeed, for empathy, were treated with administrative disdain."

Air India Flight 182 left Toronto on June 23, 1985 and exploded in the sky off the Irish coast, killing all 329 people aboard -- 278 of them Canadians.

Another blast at Tokyo's Narita Airport an hour earlier killed two baggage handlers as they handled a bomb-laden suitcase destined for another Air India plane.

In Harper's speech, he condemned the terrorist attack, which he called an act of "grotesque violence and malevolence."

He also touched on the anguish and frustration families felt when the national tragedy was treated as a international incident, perpetrated by foreign terrorists.

"Canadians, who sadly did not at first accept that this outrage was made in Canada, accept it now," said Harper.

"It is wrong and it must be laid to rest. This was not an act of foreign violence," Harper said, adding it was an atrocity conceived in Canada and executed by Canadian citizens." 

(Source: CityTV / The Canadian Press - June 23, 2010)

Toronto, June 23, 2010

Photos by MARK BLINCH/REUTERS 

Toronto, June 28, 2010

Photo by MIKE CASSESE/REUTERS

"Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (C) and his wife Gursharan Kaur (L) lay a wreath at the Air India memorial in Toronto June 28, 2010. Air India Flight 182 left Toronto on June 23, 1985 and exploded in the sky off the Irish coast, killing all 329 people aboard."

"Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrapped up his historic visit to Canada by paying respects to Air India victims and urging Indo-Canadians to move on from the divisive homeland events that preceded the terrorist attacks a quarter-century ago. 

Mr. Singh, who is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit in 37 years – the last was Indira Gandhi – made two stops before leaving Toronto after the G20 summit. The first was a candid meeting with Indo-Canadian MPs and provincial legislators at Toronto’s Royal York hotel, where he expressed India’s pride in their political successes and those of Indo-Canadians in general. 

Mr. Singh then visited Toronto’s Air India memorial, where he laid a wreath and briefly met with relatives of the 331 victims of the 1985 bombings. His visit coincided with the 25th anniversary of the bombings and came just over a week after Mr. Justice John Major’s sweeping report into the tragedy. 

The gesture by Mr. Singh took place just days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood at the same spot and formally apologized for Canada's failure to stop the worst terrorist attack in the country's history." 

(Source: The Globe and Mail - Monday, June 28, 2010)

Contact Info:

Ralph Bouwmeester, P. Eng.
R. Bouwmeester & Associates
Barrie, Ontario  Canada
Phone: 1-705-726-3392

rba@sunposition.com

(Please call or email for complete address details.)

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