Canada provides $25,000 to families of Canadian victims killed in Iran’s downing of commercial jet

Thestar.com
Jan. 20, 2020
Bruce Campion-Smith

The federal government will provide immediate financial help to the families of the Canadian victims killed when their Ukrainian commercial flight was shot down over Tehran but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he expects Iran to ultimately provide full compensation to relatives.

Trudeau said that Ottawa will be giving families $25,000 for each of the 57 Canadian citizens and 29 permanent residents on board Ukraine International Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 that was downed by an Iranian missile strike on Jan. 8. In all, 176 passengers and crew were killed.

Calling the situation “unique and unprecedented situation,” Trudeau portrayed Canada’s compensation as a stopgap measure driven by the needs of the families.

“I want to be clear. We expect Iran to compensate these families. I have met them. They can’t wait weeks. They need support now,” Trudeau said.

“This is immediate assistance for a range of needs they might have. It is not the compensation we expect will come and should come from Iran in due course,” he said.

News of the compensation came on a day when Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif in a rare diplomatic tete-a-tete between two nations that broke off formal ties in 2012.

During the meeting in Muscat, Oman, Champagne pressed demands of the group of nations -- Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom -- that all lost citizens in the crash.

In a statement issued after a Friday meeting in London, the nations called for “unhindered access” to Iran to provide consular services and an “independent and transparent” investigation. They also want to ensure that Iran “assumes full responsibility” and “recognizes its duties towards the families of the victims and other parties -- including compensation.”

Zarif expressed “profound regret” for the tragedy, according to a summary of the meeting provided by Champagne’s office.

Iran initially denied it was responsible for the disaster but then acknowledged it was to blame, saying that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 had been mistaken for a hostile target at a time when its defences were on high alert. Just hours before the attack, Iran had launched missiles at Iraqi military bases housing U.S. and coalition forces.

In Ottawa Friday, Trudeau continued to press Canada’s case that Iran must be held accountable for downing the commercial jet, which the prime minister has said was likely unintentional.

“Our government is firmly committed to holding Iran accountable for those who’ve lost a loved one and that includes financial compensation,” he said.

Trudeau said the funds -- which he said would be dispersed as quickly as possible -- are intended to help families with immediate financial needs, such as funeral arrangements and travel costs. And he said it was driven by conversations that he and others in government have had with grieving loved ones across Canada about “pressing” financial worries.

“Everything from bills that are coming in to credit cards that are maxed out to real questions about how to get back to Iran to support their families there or bring people over at a time where air travel is increasingly limited in the region and expensive,” Trudeau said.

The prime minister said he expects the first of the bodies to be returned in the coming days. So far, about 20 families have asked to have the bodies of their relatives returned to Canada and that so far, Iran has facilitated their requests.

Trudeau said that the jet’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders -- the so-called black boxes -- were “significantly damaged” and that Iran lacks the expertise and equipment to retrieve the data.

He said that Canada and other nations are encouraging Iran to send the boxes to France, where officials have offered to do the work. “There is a beginning of a consensus that would be the right place to send those black boxes to get proper information from them in a rapid way,” Trudeau said.

Why civilian flights were not grounded at a time of heightened military tensions is among the questions to be answered by the investigation, Trudeau said.

“Obviously, there will be many aspects of what happened on that terrible night to be reflected on and to take measures on but it would be premature to speculate on areas of responsibility or exactly what could have been done differently until we have all the facts,” he said.

As well, he said that next steps such as criminal proceedings hinge on the results of the ongoing crash investigation. “We certainly are calling for justice and for criminal steps to be taken if that is what the investigation leads to, as it likely looks like it will,” he said.

Meanwhile Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says there’s no timeline yet when Canadian troops will resume training activities in Iraq. That work was suspended amidst the tensions in the wake of the U.S. airstrike that killed a prominent Iranian general.

That in turn is what prompted Iran’s missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. and coalition forces, including one in Erbil with Canadian personnel. The training missions were paused and some Canadians were evacuated to a safer site in Kuwait.

“We will assess the security situation on the ground to making sure that it is conducive to resume training. But until that situation changes, training will not resume,” Sajjan told reporters in a conference call from Jordan, following an earlier visit to Kuwait.

There have been reports that American troops got several hours warning of the Iranian strike on the Iraqi facilities, allowing personnel and equipment to be moved to safety. Sajjan refused to say whether Canadian forces knew of the attack ahead of time too.

“All steps were taken for the protection of our soldiers. They were moved into protected areas at the appropriate time. We were thankful no one was injured,” he said.