On June 23, 2026, families and dignitaries gathered at Queen's Park in Toronto to mark the 41st anniversary of the Air India Flight 182 bombing. The terrorist attack on June 23, 1985, killed 331 people, including 268 Canadians, making it the deadliest mass murder in Canadian history.
Unrecovered Bodies and Lingering Trauma
Neelam Kaushik, who lost her father Ompraksh Sharma in the bombing, described the enduring pain: “It took us a long time to accept he was not coming back. Time is supposed to heal and give us comfort, but we haven’t had any closure yet. We are still hoping that justice will be done and we will have some comfort from this.”
Sharma was among 199 bodies never recovered from the Atlantic Ocean. Only 132 bodies were found from the wreckage off the west coast of Ireland. Two bombs exploded—one on Air India Flight 182 and another at Tokyo's Narita Airport—killing a total of 331 people.
Generational Impact
Neelam's daughter, Shelly Kaushik, was born a decade after her grandfather's death. She noted that the trauma has affected younger generations: “We have a better understanding on how these kinds of incidents can affect family members through generations. My dad didn’t know him, my brother didn’t know him, and yet we are affected by it every day through my mom.”
A Memorial Service at Queen's Park
On Tuesday afternoon, the Kaushiks, other family members, and dignitaries gathered on the south lawn of Queen's Park to commemorate the 41st anniversary. Neelam said, “I know it seems like a long time ago, but for us, every day you live that moment when you heard about it. The thought of not seeing my father is still very shocking. For 17 years, we lived in this dream that he was somewhere out there and that he was going to come back.”
She added, “I used to dream that he was in the sea and he swam to the shore, but he couldn’t remember, that he lost his memory and that dream kept playing over and over again.”
Continued Hope for Justice
Despite the passage of four decades, families like the Kaushiks continue to seek justice and closure. The bombing remains a painful chapter in Canadian history, and memorial services serve as a reminder of the lives lost and the enduring impact on survivors.
