Inquiry highlights inter-agency issues: Rae

Former Ontario premier Bob Rae has said that revelations during the Air India public inquiry illustrate the communication problems existing between the police and the government.
"I think what the public is hearing, perhaps in an abrupt way, is what I think has been pretty clear to people who have studied this for a long time -- that there really was a problem of communication between different levels of government, different departments, agencies, the RCMP and CSIS," Rae told CTV's Mike Duffy Live on Friday.
Rae spoke a day after Ontario Lieutenant-Governor James Bartleman revealed he had received intelligence about the Air India bombing days before it occurred.
"We now hear from Mr. Bartleman about the Foreign Affairs situation, and that has really got to be of some great concern," Rae said. "If you go back to the 9/11 report, it talks about the silos between the FBI and the CIA and how certain information wasn't properly shared and I think, tragically, the Air India situation was a terrible precursor to that."
On June 23, 1985, Air India flight 182 exploded off the coast of Ireland, killing 307 passengers and 22 crew members.
Rae, a former Ontario premier, delivered a report on the Air India bombing in November 2005, urging an inquiry into the act of terrorism.
Rae's report had urged an assessment on whether the threat of Sikh terrorism was adequately measured and also whether the RCMP and CSIS had co-operated sufficiently in the investigation.
On Friday, Lieutenant-Governor Bartleman called a press conference and said that Rae's report prompted him to come forward. Bartleman said he was "deeply sorry" for the pain family members of victims are experiencing and that he wanted to publicly reiterate why he did not speak out for "so many years."
04/05/07 CTV.ca, Canada

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Categories: Air India May 2007, Foreign May 2007, Safety May 2007