Mulroney adviser tried to hide Air India bombing facts, memos suggest

Documents released late Friday suggest a senior adviser in the Mulroney government wanted to keep key facts about the 1985 Air India bombing hidden.
All 329 people on board Air India Flight 182 died when the plane crashed near Ireland on June 23, 1985.
The federal Department of Justice produced documents for the inquiry that suggest the Prime Minister's Office, in 1985 and 1986, tried to conceal from the Indian government the fact that the bombing was plotted entirely in Canada.
At the time, the RCMP had already concluded the bombing was planned and orchestrated entirely in Canada. That conclusion was reflected in a report the Aviation Safety Board prepared for India's Kirpal Commission, which was investigating the bombing.
But the ministerial briefing notes released Friday show the PMO — specifically, Brian Mulroney's senior adviser Fred Doucet — thought that report didn't show Canada in the "best light."
The notes called the ASB report "potentially damaging" and suggest it should therefore not be given to the Indian government. There are even accusations of a conflict of interest.
At the time, one of the memos reads, the safety board may have perceived "itself as being in a position of possible conflict," because its interests in aviation safety and determining the cause of the accident were "possibly at odds" with the government's interest in portraying Canada in the best light possible.
Lawyers for the victims' families have accused the Mulroney government of covering up information to limit financial liability.
08/05/09 CBC News, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International May 2009, Foreign May 2009, NACIL May 2009, Safety May 2009