Case information

Charter of Rights — Right to equality — Human Rights — Judicial review — Standard of review —Consideration of appropriate standard of review — Whether Human Rights Commission has jurisdiction to consider legal questions regarding Canadian Human Rights Act, international law, and the Charter —Whether Montreal Convention can impliedly repeal quasi-constitutional statutes like Canadian Human Rights Act – Whether law incorporating international convention into Canadian domestic law violated the applicant’s equality rights under s. 15 of the Charter — What is the interaction in domestic law between the Montreal Convention and Canada’s other international treaty obligations? — Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s. 15.

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The applicant was on an Air Canada flight. A flight attendant asked him to remove his jacket from the seat next to him. Annoyed at the flight attendant’s tone, he expressed his displeasure and he asked to speak to a manager. Next, an Air Canada agent informed the applicant was banned from the flight. Air Canada’s report stated that the applicant was “verbally abusive toward a flight attendant and gate staff”. The applicant made a complaint against Air Canada under the Canadian Human Rights Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. H-6, (CHRA) and sought, among other things, financial relief. The Human Rights Commission dismissed the complaint. The Federal Court granted the application in part, finding that while financial compensation was not available, the applicant might have been entitled to other remedies. The Federal Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part: in addition to the matters the Federal Court remitted to the Human Rights Commission for redetermination, the FCA ordered the Human Rights Commission to consider the applicant’s complaint that the adoption of the Montreal Convention by s. 2(2.1) of the Carriage by Air Act violates his equality rights under s. 15 of the Charter.