Inequality and Injustice

by Kayla Agonoy

           From research on the actual event of the Air India Flight 182 bombing in 1985, further insight was gained on the short story “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee. Racism and cultural barriers are evident throughout the story and it is no different in real life. Those who had family that were killed in the incident felt as though the Canadian government was not doing everything possible to bring justice to their loved ones. This shows the lack of national urgency that Canada had. Racism is suspected to have played a role in the delay of investigations. The Indo-Canadian citizens did not feel as if they were not treated as real citizens. The plane crash was the biggest terrorist attack on Canada in history. But because most of the victims were Indian, the disaster was not seen as a national catastrophe.

However the tragedy continued beyond what the story entails. “Sorrow and Suspicions” is an account of the state of the investigation of the bombing ten years after. At the time when this article was written the investigation had still not made much progress and the surviving relatives continue to be frustrated. The people that were interviewed, like Perviz Madon and Lata Pada, are very similar to the characters in the story. They have lost loved ones becoming widows and childless. These real people are like the fictional characters in that they have come from similar background; this relays the genuineness of the emotions that the characters were experiencing. Also how they have managed their grief is similar. Some have gotten remarried and pursued new careers. Yet a difference that was not mentioned in the story was how these people formed together as a community to pressure the government for a public inquiry. They felt it was unfair that the government has paid more attention to smaller incidents and represented unequal treatment.

             “Remembering the Air India Disaster” is a report of the aftermath of the bombing a little over twenty years later. And still the Indo-Canadian people are frustrated and angry. The Canadian authorities have done little to honor their loved ones that have passed. It took twenty one years for a public inquiry to be held. All the community wanted was to be heard and the opportunity to express what they have been through. Most of their anger was due to the fact that they felt there was racism at play and therefore they were ignored by the government. However “the purpose of the inquiry [was never] stated to be to redress grief caused by this tragedy or the government’s apathetic response to the victims’ families in the aftermath” (Failler 157). It was stated that the testimonies were to be factual, deeming the testimonies of the people to be meaningless to the Commission. There was a “lack of recognition by Canadian authorities…in terms of public acknowledgement of their loss as a Canadian loss” (Failler 158). This shows that the government did not accept the Indian community as their own and sees them as separate group of people.

And a year after the public inquiry was commenced, public memorials were unveiled. In the summer of 2007 a ceremony was held in Toronto. These efforts to compensate for the tragedy were meager attempts and extremely overdue. The Indo-Canadians felt as though the lives of their loved ones were not taken seriously. Most of the passengers were of Indian descent but they were still Canadian citizens. This tragedy did not have a national effect and this lead the Indo-Canadians to express their anger and their feelings of not being a part of or accepted by Canada as their own people. A real life explanation of how the tragedy was handled and the aftermath compared to the short story demonstrates how the Indian community was subjected to unequal treatment and misunderstanding.

In what ways would the story be different if the Air India bombing had received the national recognition it deserved? Would the process of managing grief be easier for Shaila Bhave and the other surviving relatives?

Works Cited

Bergman, Brian, and Tom Fennell. "Sorrow And Suspicions." Maclean's 108.27 (1995): 48. Academic Search Complete. Web. 07 May 2012.

Failler, Angela. "Remembering The Air India Disaster: Memorial And Counter-Memorial." Review Of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies 31.2/3 (2009): 150-176. Academic Search Complete. Web. 07 May 2012.