MONTREAL — The Harper government plans to introduce legislation this week aimed at preventing a similar disaster to the Air India bombing — the worst terrorist attack ever committed against Canada.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the upcoming legislation, dubbed the Air India Action Plan, at a groundbreaking ceremony at a historic site in Montreal for the last of four Canadian memorials dedicated to the 331 people killed in the Air India plot.

“The roadmap should help ensure that such terrible and senseless act does not happen again,” Kenney said, adding there will also be further compensation for victims’ families.

No details were released, but Kenney said the plan will include anti-terrorist measures recommended months ago in a scathing report by former Supreme Court justice John Major into the bombing, which he had called the “worst mass murder in Canadian history.”

Major’s report had blamed a series of errors by government, RCMP and the country’s spy agency for failing to prevent the disaster.

On June 23, 1985, a bomb planted in a suitcase aboard Air India Flight 182 exploded over Irish airspace, killing all 329 people on board — including 280 Canadians.

The plane had taken off from Toronto Pearson International Airport, and exploded en route to London’s Heathrow Airport. A second bomb checked in at Japan’s Narita airport exploded, killing two baggage handlers shortly after the plane was blown up.

The final report of the Air India Inquiry found weaknesses in aviation security during the time of the bombing continue to plague airports, while new measures such as the no-fly list are not enough to counter the threat of terrorism.

"Many of the same deficiencies in aviation security that were identified in 1985 continue to be raised as urgent concerns today," said Major at the time.

The report warned major changes would be needed to monitor people who work in various tasks at airports, who do not get the same kind of screening as passengers.

"Lax perimeter security also allows vehicles and their occupants to enter inside portions of the airport with minimal, if any, screening. As a result, aircraft and passengers are vulnerable to attack."

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said at the time the government would examine the report’s recommendations.

Bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat — the only man ever convicted in the Air India bombings — apologized last month to the families of the victims and said he prays for them every day.

The former B.C. electrician was sentenced to 10 years for making the bomb that killed the Japanese baggage handlers. In 2003, he was sentenced to five years in jail for the building the bomb that blew up Flight 182.

In September, a jury found Reyat guilty of perjury in the trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted of murder in the bombings.

Reyat is to be sentenced early next year.

Mary Sebastian, who lost four family members including an aunt, and two nieces, age five and seven, in the Air India bombing, said every court trial, investigation and anniversary opens the wounds afresh.

“We still don’t know who did this,” said Sebastian.

Concordia University lecturer Mahesh Sharma of Montreal said families have lived in agony for years.

“We’re gathered here to do something good,” said Sharma, whose wife, two children and mother-in-law were on the flight.

The memorial in Montreal, which will feature a commemorative plaque at the centre of a clearing encircled by lilac trees, will be formally unveiled in 2011. Memorials have already been unveiled in Toronto and Vancouver in 2007, and a site in Ottawa was rededicated in 2008.

Postmedia News and Montreal Gazette