Deepak Khandelwal will never forget Air India bombing

Ceremony to honour the victims next Tuesday on Queen’s Park Legislative assembly grounds and at Air India Memorial in Humber Bay Park East

Published Jun 18, 2026  •  2 minute read

On the 40th anniversary of the Air India bombing lighting incense at a memorial at Queen’s Park in Toronto, on Monday June 23, 2025. The 41st anniversary ceremony is next Tuesday at two Toronto locations. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

Article content

Even with the passing of time, more than four-plus decades now in the rear-view mirror, Deepak Khandelwal will never forget the day his life turned upside down.

Article content

Article content

“It is a daily thing,” Khandelwal told the Toronto Sun. “It is not something you forget or get over. You do think of them all the time. You don’t get over it but you learn to deal with it, is how I would say it.”

Khandelwal’s two sisters were killed in the Air India Flight 182 bombing, the deadliest act of aviation terrorism in global history prior to 9/11 and the largest mass murder in Canadian history. Two terrorist bombs brutally ended the lives of 331 innocent people, including 268 Canadian citizens.

Turned down again

And as much as the devastating event pains him emotionally to this very day, he’s offended that two well-known politicians have continued to forget the incident, which occurred off Ireland’s west coast on June 23, 1985.

“We got turned down again the year by Mayor Olivia Chow, who is not coming to the memorial service in Toronto, and Premier Ford is not going to come. They just don’t care, to be blunt,” Khandelwal said when asked for his opinion on both political leaders not making an appearance.

Article content

Article content

“They just don’t care and they don’t care about these Canadians who were murdered, they continue to think of it as a foreign tragedy because it happened to be an Air India plane and not an Air Canada plane.”

A recent Angus Reid Institute poll revealed that 90% of Canadians confess to knowing little to nothing about the Air India bombing.

“It has never been taken seriously and that is what offends the families, this neglect and disinterest in Canada’s largest mass murder from our elected officials,” he said.

There will be a ceremony to honour the victims next Tuesday at noon on the Queen’s Park Legislative assembly grounds. Later that same day, a second ceremony will be held at the Air India Memorial in Humber Bay Park East at 6:30 p.m.

Keeping the memory alive

AHAKISTA, IRELAND: Family of Air India victim Indira Kalsi, 21, honouring her with flower in the sea on June 23, 2025. Families of the victims joined politicians from Canada, India and Ireland, as well as first responders and the people of County Cork attend the 40th Anniversary of the Air India bombing. Photo by  Photo: Kim Bolan

Khandelwal would like to see two things change going forward so that the public can be reminded or introduced to the tragedy, instead of forgetting it all together.  

“We would like to get this into the school system, so people are taught about this in Canadian history,” he said. “It is not talked about, and it is Canada’s largest mass murder. We have to make sure Canada never forgets this.” 

Article content

Currently, the plane’s wreckage is housed in a B.C. warehouse. The Air India Flight 182 Victims’ Families Association is attempting to get a piece of the wreckage from the Indian government.

“We would like to be able to display that in a national museum,” Khandelwal said, noting the wheels of a foreign government turn slow on this particular topic.

The Canadian government officially recognized June 23 as the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism, a designation achieved through the tireless advocacy of the Air India families to ensure solidarity with all victims of terror worldwide.

[email protected]

Article content