Families of those killed in the 1985 Air India bombing want a formal apology from the federal government, their lawyers said Friday as the public inquiry wrapped up after 18 months.

Flight 182 went down in the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people, many of them Canadians.

Justice John Major, commissioner of the Air India inquiry, listens to testimony in Ottawa on Thursday.
(Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)

Lawyers for the victims' families say a formal apology from the prime minister is warranted, given the litany of intelligence, policing and regulatory failures surrounding the worst mass murder in Canadian history.

"The government not only failed to protect [the families'] loved ones, it also failed to successfully investigate and prosecute those responsible for this heinous crime," Jacques Shore, a lawyer for victims' families, said in his written submission.

The suggestion came as lawyers made their closing arguments Friday morning before former Supreme Court justice John Major, who heads the inquiry.

No date has been set for the release of Major's final report, which will recommend changes to ensure a similar tragedy doesn't happen, but it is expected before the end of the year.

On Friday, lawyers also suggested Ottawa reassess monetary compensation for victims' families, even though it's not technically part of the inquiry's mandate.

CSIS, RCMP communication a key concern

The families are also demanding better co-operation between Canada's intelligence agency and its national police force, an issue that surfaced throughout the inquiry.

They want an office independent of the RCMP and CSIS to be set up for the co-ordination of national security. CSIS should also be forced to share intelligence information, the families say.

Families also want Major to address their concern about broad disclosure laws that force the RCMP to reveal sources during criminal prosecutions.

The families have suggested a legislative exemption be created so that CSIS can share information without fear sources might be disclosed later in court.

A lawyer for the families, Jacques Shore, also accused the government of failing to take the threat of  Sikh terrorism seriously before the crash.

He said CSIS did not inform the now defunct airline, Canadian Pacific, of threats to Air India. Also, "understaffed and poorly trained" RCMP failed to pass on crucial information to CSIS about such a possibility, said Shore.

Changes to mega-trials

Another key issue, one that Major is expected to discuss in his report, is whether there should be changes made to so-called mega-trials, prosecutions involving multiple accused or complex evidence.

Inderjit Singh Reyat was the only man ever convicted in the case after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2003.

Suspected ringleader Talwinder Singh Parmar died in India in 1991, and the RCMP's two main surviving suspects were both acquitted in March 2005 after a 19-month trial.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Josephson ruled that the Crown's case against the two was too weak for a conviction.

After the Air India trial, Josephson commented at a lecture that he would have been more comfortable if the burden of the massive trial had been shared with a jury.

To that effect, the families are calling for future mega-trials to be overseen either by a three-judge panel or, if not enough judges can be found, a court composed of both a judge and jury.

Also among the suggestions by the families was that the Criminal Code be changed to make it an offence to glorify terrorist activity and that non-profit organizations come under closer scrutiny to thwart terrorist financing.

Inquiry a 'long road'

Federal lawyer Barney Brucker briefly addressed the hearing, saying it's been a "long road."

"You have a considerable task ahead of you," Brucker said the commission head. "The government will seriously consider your recommendation in every regard."

At the end of Friday's hearing, Major said it was worth noting that despite granting a former prime suspect in the bombing limited intervener status at his request, the inquiry never heard from him.

"There has been only silence and people can draw whatever inference they like from [Ripudaman Singh Malik's] failure to appear as he requested to do," said Major.

Of the passengers killed aboard Flight 182, 280 were Canadian citizens and 82 were children.

A separate luggage bomb destined for a second Air India flight killed two Japanese baggage handlers at Tokyo's Narita airport.

With files from the Canadian Press