One of two men acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombing was shot and killed in British Columbia on Thursday morning, according to media reports.
RCMP say they responded to reports of gunfire in an area of the city of Surrey, southeast of Vancouver, and located a man suffering from gunshot wounds.
“The man was provided first aid by attending officers until Emergency Health Services took over his care. The injured man succumbed to his injuries on scene, “ according to a statement from RCMP Constable Sarbjit Sangha.
The constable said the shooting was targeted, and a suspect vehicle fully engulfed in fire was found nearby.
Reports say the deceased man is Ripudaman Singh Malik, who owned a business in the area.
Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were arrested in 2000 and acquitted in 2005 on charges of murder in the deaths of 329 people – most of them Canadians – killed on June 23, 1985, when Flight 182 en route from Canada to India via England crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
The plane was brought down by a bomb.
The pair were also charged with the murder of two men killed at Tokyo’s Narita airport 54 minutes before the attack on Flight 182. The prosecution alleged the men were part of a conspiracy to plant bombs on Air India flights.
In handing down the acquittal, a B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled that witnesses testifying against the pair were not credible and testimony from several RCMP officers did not meet the standard required by the court.
Inderjit Singh Reyat was the only person ever convicted in the Air India bombing, in 1991, of manslaughter in the deaths of two baggage handlers who were killed at Tokyo’s Narita Airport when a suitcase bomb destined for the Air India flight blew up. He served 10 years for that crime. He also got five years for another manslaughter charge in the Air India bombing. Then, in 2010, he was convicted of perjury for lying to the court during the trial of Mr. Malik and Mr. Bagri.
He was sentenced to nine years for perjury, the longest such sentence ever given in Canada, although he was given credit for time served awaiting trial. His sentence began on Jan. 7, 2011 and he was released in 2016.
The Air India attack, considered the largest mass killing and worst act of terrorism in Canada, has been a tragedy that has enmeshed successive federal governments for decades.
In 2005, Liberal prime minister Paul Martin attended a memorial service in Ireland with families of the victims. Also in 2005, former Ontario premier Bob Rae, now Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, was appointed to look into whether the federal government should call a public inquiry over the Air India investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rae eventually recommended a focused inquiry.
In 2006, the federal Conservative government of Stephen Harper appointed former Supreme Court Justice John Major to conduct a commission of inquiry, which, released in 2010, said errors by the government, RCMP and CSIS allowed the attack to occur.
Mr. Harper issued a public apology for “institutional failings” and the treatment of the victims’ families. “The protection of its citizens is the first obligation of government. The mere fact of the destruction of Air India Flight 182 is the primary evidence that something went very, very wrong,” Mr. Harper told a ceremony in Toronto in June, 2010.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
MANDATORY RANDOM TRAVELLERS TESTING TO RESUME – The federal government says mandatory random testing of travellers arriving at its four main airports will start again next week. Story here.
ARCHIBALD FALSELY STATED COOPERATION WITH INVESTIGATION: BRIEFING NOTE – Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald falsely stated that she was co-operating with an external investigation into complaints made against her by AFN employees during an interview last month, according to a briefing note written by AFN external counsel. Story here.
‘SWIFT JUSTICE” NEEDED, VICTIMS TELL POPE – Quebec victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members are calling on Pope Francis to deliver “swift justice” to them ahead of his visit to Canada at the end of the month. Story here. Meanwhile, the federal government announced on Wednesday more than $30-million in new funding to support Indigenous communities and organizations during the upcoming papal visit. Story here from CBC.
INVESTIGATIONS INTO SEX ASSAULT REOPENED BY HOCKEY CANADA – Hockey Canada is reopening investigations into 2018 sexual-assault allegations involving members of the country’s 2018 world junior team. Story here.
FIRST VACCINE APPROVED FOR INFANTS AND PRESCHOOLERS – Canada’s drug regulator approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for infants and preschoolers, making it the first vaccine approved for that age group in the country. Story here.
INTEREST RATE INCREASE TO DEEPEN HOUSING CHILL – The Bank of Canada’s interest rate increase is expected to deepen the chill in the country’s housing market and reinforce the view that property values will decline. Story here. There’s a Globe and Mail Explainer here on how the Bank of Canada’s interest-rate hike affects variable rate mortgages.
OTTAWA RESIDENTS RECOUNT CONVOY PROTEST EXPERIENCES – The second day of the city’s public hearings into the convoy protest was dominated by people describing how they were harmed by the blockade of downtown streets last winter and frustrated by the failure of authorities to end it. “I was in the Soviet Union when it collapsed in December, 1991. Walking on Wellington Street during the convoy occupation gave me flashbacks to that experience,” said Andrea Chandler, who has lived and worked in Ottawa for 30 years. Story here from the Ottawa Citizen.
EX CONSERVATIVE STAFFER CHARGED WITH MISCHIEF TO DATA – The RCMP says former Conservative staffer Dion Ahwai has been charged with mischief to data, which sources say is related to an investigation of an alleged theft of materials from Erin O’Toole’s Zoom account during the 2020 leadership race. Story here.
KING AWAITS BAIL OUTCOME – “Freedom Convoy” organizer Pat King is waiting to hear whether he will be released on bail, with a bail review set to continue for a second day Thursday. Story here.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Scott Aitchison is in Regina. Roman Baber holds a meet and greet in Moose Jaw, Sask. Jean Charest is in Saguenay, Que. Leslyn Lewis is in Haines Junction in the Yukon. Pierre Poilievre is in Vancouver, Richmond and Surrey.
THIS AND THAT
The House of Commons is not sitting again until Sept. 19. The Senate is to resume sitting on Sept. 20.
ERIN O’TOOLE INTERVIEWS ERIN O’TOOLE – The former Conservative Party leader interviews Colorado radio host Erin O’Toole – her story is here – on the Canadian O’Toole’s podcast, Blue Skies with Erin O’Toole, MP. Oddly enough, they have the same birthday. You can access the episode here.
LIBERAL MPS EYE MAYORAL POSTS – At least two Liberal MPs are said to be looking for jobs as mayors. The Hill Times reports here that three-term MP Ruby Sahota is considering a run to become the next mayor of Brampton, Ont., a job now held by Patrick Brown, who has been disqualified as a contender for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Mr. Brown is looking at seeking another term. “He will make a decision soon and is leaning to returning to municipal public service,” says Chisholm Pothier, a spokesperson for Mr. Brown’s leadership bid. Meanwhile, there’s word from British Columbia that MP Sukh Dhaliwal is about to launch a bid to become mayor of Surrey, the province’s second-most populous city. Mr. Dhaliwal has scheduled a 6 p.m. announcement on Monday, July. 18.
GOVERNOR WEBINAR – Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is to participate in a webinar Thursday afternoon hosted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. The event is private, but a recording of the conversation will be published online at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET to the CFIB YouTube channel.
ALGHABRA IN REGINA – Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, is making an announcement about new funding to improve rail safety and efficiency in Regina and southern Saskatchewan.
BIBEAU IN CALGARY – Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau is in Calgary to announce support for on-farm research activities to develop and implement best practices to reduce greenhouse emissions in Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector.
LEBLANC AND ATWIN IN FREDERICTON – Intergovernmental Affairs MinisterDominic LeBlanc and Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin, Member of Parliament for Fredericton, are making an infrastructure announcement in Fredericton with the city’s mayor, Kate Rogers, and New Brunswick Transportation Minister Jill Green.
ST-ONGE IN MONTREAL -Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge is in Montreal, announcing $30-million in financial support for 14 festivals and cultural events in Quebec.
The Globe and Mail Editorial Boardon the Bank of Canada baring its teeth: “This is new terrain for many people. Rampant inflation existed in the hazy past, during the 1970s, oil embargoes and a stagnant economy. Relatively high interest rates in Canada lasted until the early 1990s. Everyone got used to low inflation and low rates in the decades that followed. Central bankers seemed in full control. Tectonic shifts like China’s rise in the world economy kept the prices of goods low. Technology got faster and cheaper. Oil prices were mostly modest. The pandemic upended everything.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail)on how Canadians are delusional captives to a broken health system: “Canada’s health care system is in crisis. In Nova Scotia, 100,000 people – the most ever – are on waiting lists for family doctors. In Ontario, patients are enduring an average wait time of 20.1 hours in emergency rooms – the longest ever recorded – before being admitted to hospital. In Newfoundland and Labrador, emergency rooms that are supposed to be open 24/7 in rural communities are closing because of staff shortages; the same thing is happening in British Columbia. In Manitoba, paramedics have been called in to help a hospital desperate for weekend staff. In Saskatchewan, overcrowding in hospitals has reached a crisis point. These are not problems that a bump in federal funding to the provinces will fix (the premiers are asking Ottawa for a $28-billion, no-strings-attached annual increase to the Canada Health Transfer).”
Vaughn Palmer (The Globe and Mail) on B.C. Premier John Horgan learning that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s friendship is all about political self interest: “As all this sank in — the perfunctory phone call, the one-two punch by the federal ministers delivered on national television — John Horgan’s usually upbeat demeanour gave way to a mixture of anger and frustration. The federal government was refusing to meet. It was bargaining through the news media. It was treating the provinces like “serfs.” “The federal government is not a superior order of government,” said the B.C. premier. “It’s an equal order of government, and we’ll take no lessons from the federal government in fiscal probity.” See, Horgan thought he’d got somewhere with the prime minister. Hardly ever during his five years as premier has he criticized the Trudeau government. In return, he thought he’d developed a healthy relationship based on mutual benefit for the province and the country.”
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PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.
Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”
The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”
Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”
The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.
Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.
In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.
A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.
In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.
But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.
“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.
Americans and Canadians are cousins that is true. Allies today but long ago people were at loggerheads mostly because of the British Empire and American ambitions.
Canadians appreciate our cousins down south enough to visit them many millions of times over the year. America is Canada’s largest and most important trading partner. As a manufacturer, I can attest to this personally. My American clients have allowed our firm to grow and prosper over the past few decades. There is a problem we have been seeing, a problem where nationalism, both political and economic has been creating a roadblock to our trade relationship.
Both Democrats and Republicans have shown a willingness to play the “buy only American Made product” card, a sounding board for all things isolationist, nationalistic and small-mindedness. We all live on this small planet, and purchase items made from all over the world. Preferences as to what to buy and where it is made are personal choices, never should they become a platform of national pride and thuggery. This has brought fear into the hearts of many Canadians who manufacture for and service the American Economy in some way. This fear will be apparent when the election is over next week.
Canadians are not enemies of America, but allies and friends with a long tradition of supporting our cousins back when bad sh*t happens. We have had enough of the American claim that they want free trade, only to realize that they do so long as it is to their benefit. Tariffs, and undue regulations applied to exporters into America are applied, yet American industry complains when other nations do the very same to them. Seriously! Democrats have said they would place a preference upon doing business with American firms before foreign ones, and Republicans wish to tariff many foreign nations into oblivion. Rhetoric perhaps, but we need to take these threats seriously. As to you the repercussions that will come should America close its doors to us.
Tit for tat neighbors. Tariff for tariff, true selfish competition with no fear of the American Giant. Do you want to build homes in America? Over 33% of all wood comes from Canada. Tit for tat. Canada’s mineral wealth can be sold to others and place preference upon the highest bidder always. You know who will win there don’t you America, the deep-pocketed Chinese.
Reshaping our alliances with others. If America responds as has been threatened, Canadians will find ways to entertain themselves elsewhere. Imagine no Canadian dollars flowing into the Northern States, Florida or California? The Big Apple without its friendly Maple Syrup dip. Canadians will realize just how significant their spending is to America and use it to our benefit, not theirs.
Clearly we will know if you prefer Canadian friendship to Donald Trumps Bravado.
China, Saudi Arabia & Russia are not your friends in America. Canada, Japan, Taiwan the EU and many other nations most definitely are. Stop playing politics, and carry out business in an unethical fashion. Treat allies as they should be treated.
