The 2,198 Aveos employees from Montreal, Winnipeg, and Mississauga who lost their jobs in March 2012 are celebrating a new victory. Nearly two years after her judgment recognizing that Air Canada had violated the law and had to compensate them, Justice Marie-Christine Hivon of the Quebec Superior Court rendered a new judgment rejecting most of Air Canada’s arguments aimed at reducing the amounts the company might have to pay its former employees.
The class representative, Gilbert McMullen, welcomed this decision:
“Another step has been taken for justice to finally be served for former Aveos employees. The judge recognized that Air Canada’s decision to relocate its maintenance services disrupted the job market and complicated job searches for over 2,000 aerospace workers. Air Canada’s position amounted to penalizing us for a decision that allowed the company to make colossal savings.”
This second phase of the trial aimed to determine methods for calculating the losses suffered by the employees, both for pecuniary damages (loss of income and pension plans) and non-pecuniary damages (stress, anxiety, frustration, loss of self-esteem, insomnia, divorces, suicide attempts, etc.).
Although it is currently difficult to assess the total amount Air Canada will have to pay to satisfy class members’ claims, the class representative’s lawyers conservatively estimate that this amount vastly exceeds vastly 100 million dollars.
A long legal saga
The class action, authorized by Justice Jean-François Michaud in May 2018, concerns all workers from Air Canada’s overhaul and maintenance centers in Montreal, Winnipeg, and Mississauga at the time of Aveos’s closure on March 18, 2012, as well as their spouses, heirs, and assigns.
The plaintiff alleged that Air Canada had violated the Air Canada Public Participation Act. Until its amendment by Parliament in June 2016, this law required Air Canada to maintain overhaul and maintenance centers in Winnipeg, Mississauga, and the Montreal Urban Community.
In a judgment rendered on November 10, 2022, Justice Hivon found Air Canada liable and ordered it to compensate its former employees for the damages they suffered.
An appeal before the claims process
Air Canada has already announced its intention to appeal the November 2022 judgment, but a Court of Appeal judge determined that the second phase of the trial needed to be held before this appeal can proceed.
The claims process will not begin until the outcome of the appeal is known. In the meantime, class counsel encourage former employees to subscribe to their mailing list to be informed of important developments, including the claims procedure once approved by the court.
