Sociologist grilled at Air India inquiry over racism allegations

The Air India inquiry resumed in Ottawa today to wrestle with the delicate question of whether race played a factor in the response to the 1985 terrorism attack.
Sociologist Sherene Razack was grilled about a report she prepared for victims'families alleging systemic racism led to Canadian officials minimizing the warnings to Air India and being slow to respond after the devastating bombing.
Federal government lawyer Barney Brucker said Razack selectively examined a fraction of the evidence and testimony at the inquiry before coming to her unsubstantiated findings.
The University of Toronto professor admitted she cited just 43 pages from almost 13,000 compiled during the inquiry, as well as referring to just nine of more than 4,000 documents entered as exhibits.
But she reiterated her position that racist stereotyping affected the response even before the blast when Canadian authorities failed to heed warnings issued by Air India and others.
"In that pre-bombing period, despite considerable and mounting evidence of information about Sikh extremism... you find a kind of disregard for this that arises out of people being locked in their own world and without a chance to challenge their homogeneity," Razack told commissioner John Major.
Most of the 329 aboard Air India Flight 182 when it exploded off the coast of Ireland were Canadians of Indian origin. The bombing was part of a B.C. plot by Sikh extremists to target India's national airline by checking bomb-laden suitcases onto connecting flights out of Vancouver
14/02/08 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International Feb 2008, Foreign Feb 2008, NACIL Feb 2008, Safety Feb 2008