Case information

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Human rights - Discrimination - Canadian pilot of Pakistani origin being denied training provided by Bombardier in Texas and Quebec after having been excluded by American authorities for security reasons that remained secret - Exclusion lifted and admission authorized four years later - Whether exclusion based automatically on foreign decision can be presumed discriminatory where there is plausible prohibited ground - Whether candidate excluded because of his ethic origin - Whether Court of Appeal erred in requiring proof of causal connection between ethnic origin and exclusion - Standard of review applicable to decision of Human Rights Tribunal - Whether prospective order within jurisdiction of Human Rights Tribunal - Whether punitive damages justified in this case - Charter of human rights and freedoms, R.S.Q., c. C-12, ss. 10, 12, 49.

Mr. Latif has been a Canadian citizen since 2001. His American and Canadian pilot’s licences are valid for life, but for each type of aircraft, recurrent specific training is required under either the Canadian or the American licence. Bombardier trains pilots in Montréal and Dallas. After being offered a job as pilot of a Challenger 604 aircraft in 2004, Mr. Latif applied to Bombardier to take the necessary training under the American licence. At the same time, he applied to the American authorities for a security check as required by the “Alien Flight Students Program”. In April 2004, when Mr. Latif had a reserved spot in the Dallas course that spring, the company received a notification of denial from the Department of Justice on the ground that Mr. Latif was a threat to aviation safety. The denial was maintained until August 2008, with the result that Mr. Latif had to change jobs on several occasions and was even unemployed for some time. Although he asked Bombardier to enrol him in the training in Montréal under the Canadian licence, Bombardier refused, saying that it was obliged to comply with the American decision.