Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to speak today on the motion introduced by my Conservative Party colleague. I consider this motion very important. Of all the subjects brought to the attention of the House, today's motion is certainly among the most important.
We must remember that, in June 1985, an Air India Boeing 747 exploded over the Atlantic. There were no survivors. Of the 329 passengers on board, 278 were Canadians.
This tragedy, in the form of terrorist attacks, is clearly one of the most important matters that parliamentarians must consider. This sad chapter in Canadian history was not an act of God. It was the result of a conspiracy, a plot and a deliberately organized attack on a community.
The way in which the legal system handled such a case is nothing to be proud of. I believe that it is completely legitimate for the Conservative Party, out of solidarity with the 278 Canadian victims and their families and loved ones, not to accept what has happened. There are increasingly serious indications, even from the courts, that some evidence was tampered with and other evidence was destroyed.
How can anyone be satisfied with the outcome when the agencies responsible for enforcing the law, the ones responsible for uncovering the truth about the worst airline disaster and the worst act of terrorism in Canadian history, might have destroyed evidence and failed to act diligently in their investigation? How can anyone be satisfied when the families, Quebeckers and Canadians are not satisfied?
The facts of this case are extremely complex. We do know that after the bombing it took over 15 years for the RCMP to lay charges.
Understandably, in matters like this, investigations are long, complex and painstaking. There are also constraints as far as the burden of proof is concerned, and even about how things need to be conducted before a court of justice and a magistrate. There is, however, nothing to justify evidence being destroyed by law enforcement agencies. I think we should be grateful to the Conservative member for this motion which might take the form of an historic reparation if this Parliament voted unanimously in favour of it.
So, 15 years after the incident, with more than $28 million invested in the investigation, the RCMP finally laid charges against two individuals who were arrested in October 2000. They were accused of first degree murder and conspiracy in the explosions involving flights 182 and 301.
Finally, in April 2003, the trial of the two co-accused was begun. During the process, the RCMP tabled thousands of pages of documents containing evidence. In its submission to the judge, it stated that CSIS, which had members of the Sikh extremist organization wiretapped prior to the attack, had an informant—standard practice in these circles—who knew the plane was going to explode. Apparently CSIS asked its informant, three days before flight 182 was to depart, not to take it.
On Wednesday, March 16, 2005, that is close to two years after the trial of the two co-accused began on RCMP charges of conspiracy and murder in the first degree, Justice Josephson of the BC Supreme Court acquitted the two of premeditated murder, attempted murder and conspiracy.
The court case ran for 19 months, and 115 witnesses gave testimony. This decision does not close the case, since an ongoing RCMP investigation might lead to other charges.
How can it be that, for all these years, CSIS, which has been accused of having destroyed tapes that could have contributed to the evidence and to the process of the trial, has not been called upon to explain itself? What is the most distressing in this scenario is that people expect law enforcement agencies to contribute to the conclusion of an investigation and to help cast some light on this terrible air tragedy, the worst act of terrorism in the history of Canada.
How can there not have been any sanctions? How is it that we are not in a position at this time to have a clear and unequivocal picture of the role of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service?
It has come to my attention that a Supreme Court justice, the one who presided over the trial, acknowledged before a court of record that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had erased recordings and destroyed evidence.
Now that the court has determined that evidence had been destroyed, additional action needs to be taken. We believe that an independent judicial inquiry is needed in order to lift the veil of mystery and ambiguity surrounding this case. The Liberal Party has already promised an inquiry to Canadians, Quebeckers and the families.
A few weeks ago, I read in the papers that the former Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, himself a member of the Indo-Canadian community and with whom I had the pleasure of travelling to India a few years ago, has accused his government of being lax, dragging its feet and failing to meet the standard of responsibility and vigilance required in an incident like this.
Twenty years after the tragedy, it is unacceptable to any parliamentarian that the families do not have an answer and that we have not investigated the Canadian Security Intelligence Service mess. Again, an independent inquiry would help prevent similar injustices from happening again and would ease the pain and suffering of the families.
Of course, we are not starting from scratch. The RCMP has also conducted an investigation. Suspects have been identified and charges have even been laid before a number of courts. People have been punished. The main suspect in the plane explosion in Japan is the one who put the explosives in the suitcases. He was punished, served 15 years in prison and then tried to move to Great Britain.
In many ways, we have to acknowledge that the details of this tragedy are still too obscure, and we are right to ask for inquiries.
This is not the first time that the RCMP and CSIS have used tactics that might be described as reprehensible, to say the least. We have also had unfortunate incidents in Quebec. I will obviously not make any comparisons. I am well aware that nothing in terms of human suffering, distress and desolation can equal this tragedy, which took the lives of 278 Canadians.
Do we not need to affirm once and for all that it is unacceptable under the rule of law for law enforcement agencies to not cooperate fully in an investigation? This is the distressing part.
In recent years, we have had the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. I am thinking of the decision in Stinchcombe, which identified the duty of the Crown in all matters of disclosure of evidence. Indeed, it defined the extent of the effort required of the Crown in disclosing evidence. However, prior to that, if the RCMP or CSIS can be criticized for their handling of evidence or lack of integrity, no parliamentarian in this House can claim we live entirely under the rule of law.
Let us make no mistake. Some claim that, since the trial lasted over 15 months, all of the information has been made available. I think the Conservatives are right in saying that an independent inquiry would permit a more in-depth investigation.
I will stop here, because I am being told it is time for oral question period.
