In a shift from official silence in recent years on the cause of the country’s worst-ever terror attack, Canada’s intelligence agency on Tuesday placed the blame squarely on Khalistani extremists.
Marking the 41st anniversary of the bombing of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said, “On June 23, 1985, a bomb planted by Canada‑based Khalistani extremists destroyed the aircraft, killing everyone on board—most of them Canadians. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Canada’s history and a defining moment for our national security community.”
The statement said the agency was less than a year old at the time, and the Kanishka “tragedy shaped” its “evolution.”
“Over the past four decades, we have remained committed to protecting Canadians from political, religious, and ideologically motivated violence,” CSIS noted.
In the last two years, CSIS’ annual reports have stated that Canada-based Khalistani extremists (CBKEs) continue to “pose a national security threat” to the country.
In the 2025 annual report, Canada’s intelligence agency said, “Ongoing involvement in violent extremist activities by CBKEs continues to pose a national security threat to Canada and to Canadian interests.”
It added that some CBKEs were “well connected to Canadian citizens who leverage Canadian institutions to promote their violent extremist agenda and collect funds from unsuspecting community members that are then diverted toward violent activities.”
It stated that there were no CBKE-related attacks in the country in 2025 and added that some Canadians “participate in legitimate and peaceful campaigning to support the Khalistan separatist movement.”
“Only a small group of individuals who use Canada as a base to promote, fundraise, or plan violence primarily in India are considered Khalistani extremists,” it pointed out.
It prefaced its remarks on CBKEs but pointing out that last year marked the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Air India Flight 182, the Kanishka, whose suspects were pro-Khalistan extremists. “It remains to this day the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history, with 329 people killed, most of them Canadians,” it said.
The concerns over the presence of CBKEs in the country were similar to those sounded in the 2024 report, the first after Mark Carney became the country’s Prime Minister. Allusions to pro-Khalistan extremism were missing from reports after 2018, the period when Justin Trudeau was PM.
Reacting to the CSIS statement, the Hindu Canadian Foundation (HCF) welcomed “the clear, fact‑based stance” taken by the agency.
“This clarity matters. Victims deserve justice,” HCF said, adding that this reinforced its standing call “to designate CBKEs as a terrorist entity to safeguard Canadians from all walks of life.”
Ruchi Wali, who has been an outspoken critic of pro-Khalistan extremism in Canada, described CSIS calling out the Khalistani hand behind the terror attack as a “welcome change.”
