The Institutional Responses to the Demands Made by Canadian Victims Of

THE INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO THE DEMANDS MADE BY CANADIAN VICTIMS OF TERRORISM: EXPLAINING GROUP SUCCESS THROUGH PLURALIST AND NEOPLURALIST THEORIES A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by MANJIT PABLA In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts August, 2010 ©ManjitPabla,2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-67435-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-67435-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada ABSTRACT THE INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO THE DEMANDS MADE BY CANADIAN VICTIMS OF TERRORISM: EXPLAINING GROUP SUCCESS THROUGH PLURALIST AND NEOPLURALIST THEORIES Manjit Pabla Advisor: University of Guelph, 2010 Professor D. Baker This thesis is an investigation of the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, where 280 Canadians were killed. In the aftermath, a group of victims' families organized themselves into the Air India Victims' Families Association (AIVFA) and began to demand policy changes from the government. Over the course of twenty-five years, the AIVFA achieved some of its goals, such as securing an Air India inquiry and several memorials across the country. This thesis examines the role played by victims of terrorism in the political process and the factors that may explain why the government would respond (or not respond) to demands made by the AIVFA. While policy success may be attributed (in part) to the factors identified by pluralists (leadership, size, resources, mobilization, perceived legitimacy, and decision-making structure), the experience of the AIVFA can be better understood through a neopluralist lens that is also sensitive to the importance of policy windows. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my deepest gratitude to the many people who have made this thesis possible. Dr. Dennis Baker has greatly exceeded his duty as an M.A. advisor, providing clear, effective, and compassionate leadership. Professor Baker's constant support, sound advice, encouragement and enthusiasm has made the thesis research and writing process easier. I also appreciate the dedicated work of Dr. Troy Riddell. As advisory committee member, Professor Riddell has provided insightful guidance and advice throughout this process of research. Many thanks to Dr. Judith McKenzie and Dr. David Walters for taking time out of their busy schedules to serve on my thesis defence committee. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, Amarjit and Parminder Pabla. Without their care, support and love, I would not have achieved my academic goals. To my parents, I dedicate this thesis. Table of Contents Introduction Page 1 Chapter One: Theory Page 17 Chapter Two: Applying Pluralism to the AIVFA and C-CAT Page 35 Chapter Three: Demands Made by the Air India Victims Page 52 Chapter four: Institutional Responses to demands made by the Air India Page 80 Victims' Families Chapter Five: The Canadian 9/11 victims' demands and institutional Page 108 responses Closing Discussion and Conclusion Page 125 References Page 149 Appendix A Page 160 Appendix B Page 164 11 Introduction On the morning of June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182 exploded mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Ireland. The plane had departed from Montreal and was headed to India with 329 passengers and crew members; 280 of whom were Canadians. In the aftermath of this tragedy, disturbing details began to emerge from the police investigation which suggested that the bombing was the result of a terrorist attack. What was even more alarming was that the terrorist attack may have been planned and carried out in Canada and, moreover, its investigation was flawed. For many years the victims' families struggled with a government they perceived as unsympathetic to their plight. Rising from the tragedy, many of the family members began to lobby the government and even going as far as to form interest groups to increase pressure placed on officials. Years later, another terrorist attack occurred and impacted a number of Canadians: the attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) in the United States resulted in the deaths of twenty-four Canadians. Subsequently, the victims groups formed from these two events aligned together and were able to have some political impact and achieve a degree of success. The case of the bombing of Flight 182 and, more importantly, the interest groups formed by the victims' families, presents a unique and valuable opportunity for academic research. In particular, this study investigates the extent to which these groups have been able to impact the policy sector and the factors which may explain the response these victims' groups have had from officials. The history of the Air India bombing, and the mobilization of the victims' families has been illustrative of the victims' rights movement in Canada. In 1982, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms {Charter) was introduced and ushered in what was 1 believed to be a new era of enhanced due process rights for accused offenders. However, the advent of the Charter also paved the way for victims' rights groups to become legitimate actors within the justice system. Victims of crime felt shutout from the newly created Charter and proceeded to pressure the state to recognize their distinct rights and advance their own claims. Subsequently, the justice system pitted the due process rights of the accused with the security and equality claims of victims and potential victims of crime. While there are multiple studies on victims of crime and the victims' rights movement, a unique and understudied group of victims, those impacted by terrorist events such as the bombing of Flight 182, are less visible in criminological research. Victims of terrorism have formed groups, advocated for their rights and lobbied for policy reform that reflect their unique vision in a manner tantamount to those made by victims of more traditional crimes. However, victims of terrorism possess special dynamics and characteristics that distinguish them from other types of victims. The Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, Steve Sullivan, refers to other non-terror victims as victims of "traditional crimes."1 In this view, the nature of the crime itself is an important characteristic that distinguishes terrorism victims apart from others. By referring to certain crimes as 'traditional' it is not meant to diminish or trivialize the often immense suffering and damage that can be caused by crime; rather, the usage of the term 'traditional crime' simply denotes that terror victims possess special dynamics and characteristics when it comes to political interaction and objectives. For the purposes of this study, "victims of traditional crime" include those impacted by crimes which occur more frequently than 1 Steve Sullivan, Personal Interview (30 July, 2009). 2 terrorism. Homicide, robberies, sexual or physical assault are some of these traditional crimes. These 'traditional' crime victims have been largely credited for the victims' right movement, a relatively recent phenomenon. With the enactment of the Charter and the Young Offenders Act in 1982 and 1984 respectively, the rights of the accused were significantly enhanced.2 These constitutional and legal changes arguably shifted the criminal justice system from a crime-control to a due process model, one where the rights of the accused could trump the rights of crime victims and, perhaps, the interest of public safety. In response, victims groups portrayed the new regime as being far too soft on offenders. This naturally aligned victims' rights groups with political parties on the right, resulting in a common call for a punitive model of victims' rights.3 Terrorism, however, creates victim-policy dynamics different from more traditional crimes because of the multiplicity of interests involved and the intentionally large and spectacular quality of the crime. For example, the spectacle of 9/11 was witnessed by the entire world and led to what became a growing concern over the threat of terrorism for most of the first decade of the 21st century. With the public expecting policy makers to respond to terrorist threats in Canada, the government attempted to address this concern by enacting the Anti-terrorism Act, heightening the security at airports and borders, and even engaging in war in Afghanistan.

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