Ottawa is appointing an adviser to review the investigation into the 1985 Air India bombings and determine whether "outstanding questions of public interest" remain, Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan says.

McLellan told the House of Commons on Thursday that the adviser will be an "eminent" person who can provide her with independent advice – which could possibly include the recommendation of a public inquiry.

But before McLellan takes any action, she said she wants to meet the relatives of some of the 329 people who died when Air India Flight 182 blew up off the coast of Ireland on June 22, 1985.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan in Ottawa Thursday.
Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan in Ottawa Thursday.

Another two people, baggage handlers at a Japanese airport, died in an apparently related bombing the same day.

McLellan said the first of her meetings with family members will take place on Tuesday.

On March 16 of this year, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted of murder and conspiracy charges in connection with the case, leaving families of the victims outraged and calling for a public inquiry into how police and Crown officials handled the investigation and prosecution.

The families have said they believe that if most of the passengers aboard the Air India flight had been white, the investigation would have been carried out more quickly.

On Thursday, McLellan said any federal review process would only begin "once we've determined if the province of British Columbia will appeal the [court's] decision. If the province appeals, that must take priority."

Fourteen years ago, a draft discussion paper prepared for the Solicitor General's department suggested that Canadians were owed "as full an account as the government can devise" into the bombings.

But in the wake of the acquittal of Malik and Bagri, federal officials said it was highly unlikely that an inquiry would reveal new information on the Air India bombings, almost 20 years after the fact.