Air India attack 'not seen as Canadian'

Ottawa: Despite the impact of the 1985 Air India bombings, Canada did not really start addressing the issue of terrorist financing within the charitable sector until after the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Air India inquiry was told yesterday.
University of Toronto law Prof. David Duff suggested that, in the context of the time, the bombings were not seen as a Canadian tragedy.
Even with the growing awareness of the way that charitable donations can be funnelled to terrorist organizations, less than one per cent of the registered charities in the country have been audited, said Duff.
The rate of audits is even lower now than it was in the mid-90s, when there was a public outcry over the fact that the Babbar Khalsa -- a Sikh organization believed by many to have been involved in planning the Air India bombings -- was able to obtain charitable status, said Duff, who has been given the task of recommending legislative changes governing charities.
The Babbar Khalsa's charitable status was revoked in 1996, said Duff.
Duff told inquiry commissioner John Major that the Canada Revenue Agency should increase the number of audits done on charities, and should also make applications for charitable status public, so that the groups making the application can be more broadly scrutinized.
As it stands, information about the applicant isn't made public until it has already been registered as a charity.
30/11/07 CanWest News Service/The Province, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International Dec 2007, Foreign Dec 2007, NACIL Dec 2007, Safety Dec 2007