Close X
Friday, November 8, 2024
ADVT 
National

Canada Must Guard Against Terrorism: PM Harper

IANS, 24 Jun, 2015 12:56 PM
    Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism and so "continued vigilance is essential", Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said.
     
    Harper made the remarks on Tuesday while laying a wreath in the Hall of Honour to mark the "National day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism" observed to honour those killed in the 1985 Air India bombing.
     
    An Air India flight flying from Toronto to London crashed off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board. Most of the dead were Canadians of Indian origin. 
     
    Sikh extremists were blamed for the bombing.
     
    Harper said he cannot "help but cast his mind back to the Canadians who perished in Air India Flight 182 and in the World Trade Centre attacks... and to the many terrorist activities foiled by the vigilance of Canadian security agencies.
     
    "The recollections serve as a reminder that Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism and that continued vigilance is essential."
     
    Addressing a gathering in parliament building here, he said it was a terror attack that killed the 329 passengers and crew members aboard Air India. 
     
    "On this sombre anniversary, we stand in solidarity with the friends and families who lost loved ones in that heinous attack and honour those lost.
     
    "We were deeply moved by this solemn tribute as well as by our meeting the kin of the victims," he added.
     
    Among the kin of the victims present was Susheel Gupta, whose mother Ramvati died in the bombing. Gupta said he regretted that his children would not be able to meet their grandmother.
     
    Meanwhile, a memorial service in Ireland was attended by India's Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan and Canadian Minister of Justice Peter MacKay.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Northern Ontario First Nation Community Begins Evacuation Due To Flooding

    Northern Ontario First Nation Community Begins Evacuation Due To Flooding
    KASHECHEWAN, Ont. — The evacuation of a remote northern Ontario First Nation has begun as the rapidly rising Albany River threatens the community.

    Northern Ontario First Nation Community Begins Evacuation Due To Flooding

    Kathleen Wynne Says Transit, Infrastructure Plans Will Be Cornerstone Of Ontario Budget

    Kathleen Wynne Says Transit, Infrastructure Plans Will Be Cornerstone Of Ontario Budget
    TORONTO — Sales of Crown assets to pay for billions of dollars in new transit and infrastructure projects will be a key focus of today's Ontario budget, also expected to include details on a new provincial pension plan.

    Kathleen Wynne Says Transit, Infrastructure Plans Will Be Cornerstone Of Ontario Budget

    Mammoth Park? Extinct Beast's Genome Decoded, Possible Step In Reviving Species

    Mammoth Park? Extinct Beast's Genome Decoded, Possible Step In Reviving Species
    Scientists have sequenced the near-complete genomes of two woolly mammoths that lived 40,000 years apart in different areas of Siberia, providing new insights into the species' evolution and eventual extinction at the close of the Ice Age.

    Mammoth Park? Extinct Beast's Genome Decoded, Possible Step In Reviving Species

    Family Of Loretta Saunders Shares Grief After Guilty Pleas In Daughter's Murder

    Family Of Loretta Saunders Shares Grief After Guilty Pleas In Daughter's Murder
    Miriam Saunders says she's been overwhelmed with grief since the slaying last year of her daughter Loretta, but the Inuit woman from Labrador says she still plans to continue her daughter's work as an advocate for murdered and missing aboriginal women.

    Family Of Loretta Saunders Shares Grief After Guilty Pleas In Daughter's Murder

    Halifax Airport's Main Runway Returns To Full Service After Last Month's Crash

    Halifax Airport's Main Runway Returns To Full Service After Last Month's Crash
    Halifax Stanfield International Airport says antenna array damaged by the crash of the Air Canada flight has been completed and runway approach lights have also been repaired.

    Halifax Airport's Main Runway Returns To Full Service After Last Month's Crash

    Crown Dissects Duffy's Editorial Contracts With Friend Gerald Donohue

    Crown Dissects Duffy's Editorial Contracts With Friend Gerald Donohue
    OTTAWA — The minutiae of Mike Duffy's contractual paperwork continues to hold the spotlight at the suspended senator's fraud trial.

    Crown Dissects Duffy's Editorial Contracts With Friend Gerald Donohue