News Agencies – December 8, 2010
Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. will pay $319,000 CAD in damages to a Canadian of Pakistani origin after he was denied pilot training because he had been identified as a “threat to aviation or national security” by U.S. authorities. The Quebec Human Rights Commission announced details of the recent ruling by the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal in favour of Javed Latif.
Latif was denied training under Canadian licence by Bombardier in 2004 because he had been identified as a “threat to aviation or national security” by U.S. authorities. The penalty was for material, moral and punitive damages. A $50,000 assessment for punitive damages is the highest amount ever awarded by the tribunal.
The tribunal found that Latif had been discriminated against based on his ethnic and national origin and that his right to the safeguard of his dignity had been compromised.”The ruling by the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal is without precedent,” commission president Gaetan Cousineau said in a release.
