TORONTO: More than two decades after the 1985 Air India bombings, Canadian officials and family members of the 331 victims gathered at Vancouver's Stanley Park for the unveiling of a memorial and a playground dedicated to those who died in the country's worst air tragedy.
Ceperley playground in Stanley Park was refurbished with new play equipment designed to encourage co-operative collective play in memory of the 82 children who perished in the terrorist act.
A new memorial wall inscribed with the names of the victims was built in the shape of an arc, meant to represent the trajectory of the doomed flight, from the point where it left Vancouver to the crash site just off the coast of Ireland.
At the end of the wall is a single stone from a memorial for the crash erected in Ahakista, Ireland, near where the plane went down. Three dove trees were also planted near a quiet space for contemplation.
"This memorial acknowledges the bombing of Air India Flight 182 as one of Canada's worst tragedies," said Jayashree Thampi of the Air India Flight 182 Victims' Families organisation at the unveiling on Friday.
"The memorial wall, etched with the names of the victims, immortalises the lives lost in this act of terrorism. The children's playground symbolises the innocence of those children who died in this tragedy. This place offers a beacon of hope to the children of today and the future," said Thampi.
As federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day stood by, other family members of victims lamented that it took 20 years for the Canadian government to recognise the bombing of Air India Flight 182 as a Canadian tragedy.
The relatives of the victims, however, said they did take great comfort in the memorial, and hope it will remind everyone who comes to see it of the futility and pointlessness of terrorism.
"The tragic loss of 331 lives was felt around the world, but it was of particular significance here in British Columbia where many victims were family members, friends and neighbours," said BC Premier Gordon Campbell.
The cost of the project was shared by the governments of Canada and British Columbia, and is built on land provided by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. The planning process involved consultations with the general public and victims' families.
The unveiling of the memorial and commemorative playground followed a June ceremony dedicating a memorial in Toronto to the victims of the bombing. There will also be a memorial built in Montreal and a renovation of the existing memorial in Ottawa.
