40 years after Air India bombing, son's grief fuels his work in counterterrorism and victim support

CBC

4 hours ago

Social Sharing
Susheel Gupta was 12 years old when his mother, Ramwati Gupta, boarded Air India Flight 182.
It was supposed to be a special summer for the Ottawa boy, whose family had planned a trip to India to visit relatives. He was originally meant to fly ahead of his parents so that he could spend some extra time with his grandparents.
But his Grade 7 graduation ceremony was coming up, and he didn't want to miss it.
"Had I gone early, I would have missed Grade 7 graduation, so I nagged and nagged my parents," Gupta told CBC's The Early Edition.
Ultimately, the family changed their travel plans, and Gupta's mother flew ahead, with the intention that he and his father would join her a few weeks later.
"She was travelling on my plane ticket and my seat," he said.
That flight never made it. On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182 exploded off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people onboard. Around the same time, a bomb exploded at Japan's Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers transferring a Vancouver suitcase to an Air India flight.
It is considered the worst mass murder in modern Canadian history.
Irish compassion, Canadian silence
Monday marks 40 years since that tragedy. Gupta, now a senior RCMP official working in counterterrorism, said the pain never fully goes away.
"I've got two little girls and not a day goes by that I don't wish my mom were alive so they could meet her."
But Gupta says it wasn't just the loss that devastated families. It was also the way they were treated.
In the hours after the bombing, Gupta remembers his family scrambling for answers but facing a void of official information.
"There used to be something called a phone book … and my father was trying to reach government agencies," he said. "There was no one answering any of our calls.
"We didn't know if there was a rescue mission or a recovery mission."
Two days later, Gupta and his father flew to Cork, Ireland, using the two tickets Air India had offered each family. His brother, 18 at the time, stayed behind.
In Ireland, they joined "thousands" of grieving relatives from around the world seeking answers.
"There were U.S. government officials, U.K., France had officials, India, of course, and so forth," Gupta recalls. But there were no Canadian officials present at the site — and it would be nine days before any officials arrived to speak with the families.
"Here's a tragedy where the majority [of people killed] were Canadian citizens, and there's not one Canadian official who could even bother. That's how the country treated it at the time."
Despite the absence of Canadian support, Gupta said he'll never forget how Irish residents opened their arms.
"[Locals] would come out of their homes in tears," he said. "They would invite us to have tea, to have a meal, and to have cookies with them."
"Just the kindness we received from the Irish … certainly contrasts with how we were treated by our own government."
Gupta believes Canada has still not fully accepted the tragedy as its own.
"I think many Canadians unfortunately think that terrorism is something that happens somewhere else," he said. "I don't think they acknowledge or understand that it has happened here."
No support for victims' families
According to an RCMP press release marking the 40th anniversary, the bombing exposed "major gaps in intelligence-sharing, inter-agency coordination, and the way we support victims' families."
A 2010 federal inquiry led by former Supreme Court Justice John Major described the government's early response as " wholly deficient," saying victims' families were treated like "adversaries."
Gary Bass, a former RCMP deputy commissioner who later oversaw the Air India investigation, acknowledges that families weren't given timely updates.
WATCH | Ujjal Dosanjh says Air India bombing should be recognized as a national tragedy:
Former health minister of Canada speaks at Air India anniversary memorial in Vancouver
2 years ago
Duration 0:42
"There were no victim services supports back in 1985," he said in the RCMP statement. "One of the big complaints from victims' families was that they were not getting any updates."
Bass credits Gupta's father, Bal Gupta, for helping establish regular briefings that eventually built trust between families and investigators.
In the months that followed the tragedy, the Air India Victim's Families Association (AIVFA) was formed, which according to the RCMP, continues to play a pivotal role in advocating for justice, remembrance and police reforms related to terrorism.
Senior Gupta acted as the coordinator for the group from 1985 to 2005.
"It was through Bal Gupta that we started setting up a series of briefings two to three times a year," added Bass.
Turning pain into public service
The tragedy and its aftermath became a turning point in Gupta's life.
"If there was a way to deal with the frustration of how we were treated … it was to become part of the system."
Now 52, Gupta is the Senior Strategic Operations Director with the RCMP's Counterterrorism and National Security section in Ottawa. He has also served as a federal prosecutor with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
His current role involves planning and delivering support for victims of terrorism and mass casualty events. It's work that has taken him across Canada and abroad — most recently to Vancouver following the April 2025 Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy, when a driver struck a crowd at a street festival, killing 11 people and injuring many more.
"We organized a gathering of over 100 victims and families because we felt it was important."
He said many of the families didn't know each other before that event, much like the Air India tragedy, but shared trauma creates an important bond.
"We become a sponge, we absorb that grief and absorb that pain."
On Monday, memorials are being held across Canada and in Ahakista, Ireland to mark the 40th anniversary of the Air India bombing and the 20th National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism.
In a statement, the RCMP said it reaffirms its commitment to ensuring the tragedy and its lessons are never forgotten.
For Gupta, the anniversary is not just a time to mourn but to reflect on the change that's still needed.
"Our national security framework was ultimately changed because of this tragedy and because of families who never gave up," he said. "I don't want any Canadian to have to go through this the way we did."