PTI 
 
Toronto, Jun 12: The Canadian Government is steadfast in its promise to launch a public inquiry into the 1985 Kanishka disaster which killed more than 329 people off the Irish Coast, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said.

Referring to the Air India bombing on which a public inquiry has been ordered, Harper said his government would ensure that such disasters did not recur.

"The inquiry will thoroughly review the case and provide some measure of closure for all the families," he told members of the Indo-Canadian business community at a function organised by the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) to commemorate its 29th anniversary yesterday.

He described the Air India bombing that left 329 people dead as the worst disaster in the Canadian history.

The British Colombia Court had in March last year found the main accused Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Vancouver-based millionaire businessman and a mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty of murder and conspiracy charges, triggering a wave of protests from relatives of the victims.

Harper also told the 1,200 person gathering that the 17 men who allegedly planned to bomb targets in southern Ontario are symbols of hatred seeking to tear apart Canada's "diverse and democratic society." "Let us never forget that such people today, as in the past, may make use of the symbols of a culture or a faith, but they speak for neither," he said, adding "they represent nothing but hatred." His comments come a week after the Toronto-area residents were arrested in a high-profile police sting, which has drawn international media attention to the country's so-called "homegrown" terrorist plot.