Tara Singh Hayer became a journalistic martyr when unknown gunmen murdered him a decade ago. Sadly, those responsible for the newspaper publisher's killing have not yet been brought to justice.
Tara Singh Hayer was gunned down in November 1998. He was putting the final touches on the latest edition of his Indo-Canadian newspaper, a publication that didn't waiver in its criticism of extremists trying to import terror to Canada.
"Once he made up his mind he wanted to stand up for something, he did and you couldn't change his mind and that shows you even the bombing attempt at his office in 1986, the shooting in 1988 and he still held the same view, you can't bring terrorism here," said Dave Hayer.
While that dedication to principle ended up killing Hayer, his family says it would be easier to move on if those responsible had been punished.
The RCMP have an ongoing investigation. But so far, it hasn't yielded results.
"One of the factors that is proving difficult is there were multiple plots to kill Mr. Hayer over an extended period of time and now with the passage of time, the fact it's been ten years, it makes it even more difficult," said RCMP Sgt. Tim Shields.
The Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan, who has made a virtual career out of covering Sikh extremism, covered it this way on Nov. 14:
Dave Hayer can still remember his mother's screams as he arrived at the family's house in Surrey after getting a panicked call from his sister about an emergency.
"They killed him, they killed him," his mom Baldev cried, as his three sisters tried to comfort her.
Tara Singh Hayer, already paralysed in a 1988 attempt on his life, had been gunned down in the garage of his Surrey home. It was just before dinner on Nov. 18, 1998. He was 62.
Now, 10 years after the assassination of the outspoken publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times, The Vancouver Sun has learned there were at least three simultaneous plots to kill Hayer, all linked to his vocal criticism of the tactics used by a handful of violent Sikh separatists in B.C.
Many who knew Hayer are frustrated that no one has been charged a decade after the unprecedented execution of a journalist in Canada. But police say the investigation remains intense and active.
"We still consider it one of our priority investigations. We still have significant resources committed to it," RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass told The Sun this week.
Bass confirmed that there was more than one plot to kill Hayer in the works before the killers were successful.
"I would say that obviously there was more than one plot to assassinate Hayer and we are still pursuing multiple plots," Bass said.
Hayer made enemies because of his commentary in the Times, the Surrey-based Punjabi language newspaper he had published for years. He regularly targeted militants in the International Sikh Youth Federation and the Babbar Khalsa, groups that were later banned as terrorist in Canada.
But Hayer had a secret he had shared with just a few before his murder - he had agreed to be a witness in the Air India case, having told the RCMP that he once overheard Babbar Khalsa leader Ajaib Singh Bagri confess to the plot.
An assassination. A dead journalist. A witness in the Air India case.
Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression had this to say in a news release issued Nov. 18:
CJFE's Executive Director Annie Game says "The murder of Hayer was the greatest test, and, indeed, the greatest failure of press freedom in Canada." Despite repeated warnings, threats, and a previous attempt on his life, police were unable to protect him. With each passing year that his murder goes unpunished, it appears that these killers, on Canadian soil, have gotten away with murder. ...
When Hayer died, Canada lost an irreplaceable voice for the Indo-Canadian community - a devastatingly high price to pay in the name of free expression. In 1999, CJFE named its press freedom award given to Canadian journalists who have shown great courage in the course of doing their work after Tara Singh Hayer.
I briefly crossed paths with David Hayer at the 1999 CAJ convention in Vancouver. I shook hands with him, expressed my sorrow at his family's loss -- and wished that his father's killer or killers would swiftly be brought to justice.
Unfortunately, my heartfelt wish remains unfulfilled.