40 years ago, Susheel Gupta’s mother was killed in the Air India bombing

Susheel Gupta was only 12 years old when his mom died in what has become known as the Air India bombing.

June 23, 2025, marks 40 years since the bombing.

Gupta travelled to Ireland with his father a few days after the bombing.

“I think if you were to talk to all of the victims’ family members, one thing that they will all say is we were treated with the utmost dignity, respect, compassion by everyone that we interacted with in Ireland, be it police officials, the Garda, hospital nurses and just ordinary citizens,” Gupta, who is now the chair of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, told Global News.

Air India Flight 182 was blown up over the Atlantic Ocean on 23 June 1985, killing all 329 passengers and crew, most of whom were Canadian citizens.

The flight had departed from Montreal, en route to India, when it exploded and crashed off the coast of Ireland. Around the same time, on board a second aircraft that had departed Canada, a suitcase transiting through Japan’s Narita Airport exploded, killing two baggage handlers.

The Air India bombing is the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history.

Gupta said he remembers two Irish citizens giving him and his father the raincoats off their backs when it was raining one day during their visit.

“We didn’t have any,” he said. “We hadn’t had time to plan. That’s the kindness that we saw just, and that’s a strong, strong memory of a big fondness for the people of Ireland and how we were treated there.”

After the death of his mother, Gupta has devoted his life to work with the criminal justice system and now he helps organizations around the world prepare for and respond to victims of terrorism and mass casualty incidents.

He said Canada has come a long way since the Air India bombing in 1985.

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“There’s still more work that needs to be done, but we are in a much better position than we were 40 years ago,” Gupta said.

“And I can tell you that, you know, there’s been a few inquiries, the Mass Casualty Commission, and looking at the events in Portapique Nova Scotia, the Goodale report that looked at the downing of Ukraine Airlines, PS752, and they both made recommendations that Canada develop some type of national programme or national centre to support victims of terrorism and mass casualty.”

A memorial will be held in Stanley Park at 6 p.m. on June 23 to honour and remember those killed in the bombing.

This sombre anniversary comes on the same day that RCMP confirmed an unidentified man connected with the Air India bombing has died.

The man, only known as ‘Mr. X,’ accompanied Talwinder Singh Parmar, later identified as the mastermind of the bombing, on a ferry from Vancouver to Duncan on June 4, 1985.

Parmar was set to inspect an explosive device and RCMP investigators said that Mr. X stayed in Duncan and was shown a bush bomb experiment.

“RCMP investigators with the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team – Pacific Region (INSET-PR), confirms they uncovered information related to a suspect they believe was involved in testing an explosive device prior to the Air India terrorist attack on June 23, 1985,” RCMP confirmed in an emailed statement on Monday.

“However, there has not been sufficient evidence to unequivocally confirm the identification of this suspect. Investigators confirm the suspect is deceased.”

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