The Air India Archive collection consists of various forms of items including interviews, personal anecdotes, memorial books, photographs, published and unpublished creative work, and family albums along with government records.
Lost her sister-in-law Rachelle Castonguay
“No support of any kind. There was no support. We were supporting ourselves, among ourselves… At first, [they were not] considering them Canadian citizens because most of the people on board were Indian descendants. They [the Canadian government] felt like… it’s not their business, not their… that was somebody else’s war, it happened on somebody else’s ground.”
Lost his wife (Manjari), son (Srikiran) and daughter (Sharadha)
“That was very tough, but you know, there was no way anybody could have really brought me out of it. So it takes time… wanted to cope up with my life somehow or the other and see something useful come out my existence, otherwise what is the purpose of me to live, nothing. I had to find some meaning and some purpose so I went after that. To do something.”
Lost his father Dr. A.M. Alexander
“They didn’t take it seriously enough. They didn’t, you know, whether… whether you treated it as a terrorist attack on Canadians or not, you still should have supported the families. That would be the right thing to do. Whether it was a terrorist attack or not… white, brown, black, whatever… that would have been the right thing to do. You are a human being that should have been the first thing that they thought of.”
Lost her husband Vishnu and daughters, Brinda and Arti
“That is why… I’m such a strong advocate for the power of the arts, especially during… experiences of great loss and grief. I think the arts can bring that solace… into your life. And I certainly experienced it firsthand with my dance.”
Former British Columbia Attorney General and Premier of British Columbia
“The Canadian government, I think, had a very ignorant response. It was essentially a nonresponse. I mean… our sense was that these guys thought… here are some brown people killing other brown people or hurting other brown people… it’s not a problem that is ours. So much so that, you know, Brian Mulroney… calls Rajiv Gandhi and condoles for the death of 300 Canadians.”
All interviews were conducted by Dr. Chandrima Chakraborty; excerpts published with permission.