A small group of protesters met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday as he visited a Toronto memorial honouring victims of an airplane bombing.

Modi visited the Kanishka memorial site in Humber Bay Park, located at 2225 Lake Shore Blvd. W., as his final stop in Toronto before heading west to Vancouver.

The controversial leader joined Prime Minister Stephen Harper and wife Laureen as they laid wreaths at the site shortly after noon.

As the politicians' motorcade pulled up in front of the park, about a dozen protesters and fans stood by the entrance to greet the Indian prime minister.

Another crowd stood by the memorial, and shook hands with Modi and the Harpers following the ceremony.

The memorial was unveiled in 2007, and honours the 329 people who died when Air India Flight 182 went down off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985 after departing Toronto. The event marked the first bombing of a 747 jumbo jet.

More than 80 per cent of the people killed in the bombing were Canadian citizens, and the majority were of Indian descent.

Some cheered and waved Indian flags while others held up signs condemning the leader.

"India's Hitler Modi is a threat," one sign read.

"India planned and executed Kanishka bombing," another read.

His supporters did not carry signs, but cheered as the black SUVs drove by.

Modi honoured the victims the morning after thousands of screaming fans packed the Ricoh Coliseum to listen to the leader speak.

After a welcome befitting a rock star, Modi spoke in Hindi to the packed venue for more than an hour, outlining his plans for the future of India.

Though the majority of the crowds at both events were friendly, Modi was also met by protesters who criticized his politics and past.

The leader was denied a visa to Canada during a 12-year period when he was suspected of human rights abuses. In 2002, when Modi was the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, more than 1,000 people died in inter-communal riots. The majority of the people who died were Muslim.

Modi has denied his role in the riots and was cleared in an investigation overseen by India's Supreme Court in 2012, but he still draws protests wherever he speaks.