OTTAWA -- Canada's highest court has sided with Bombardier in a discrimination case that originated south of the border involving a Canadian pilot.
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the Montreal-based company did not discriminate against Javed Latif, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, when it denied him a training course on one of its jets.
It's the first time the high court has heard a discrimination case based on allegations of racism stemming from a decision made by a foreign authority.
In 2004, Bombardier refused to provide training to Latif, who held valid lifetime pilot's licenses in Canada and the United States, because U.S. authorities declared him a threat to aviation security.
He had applied to take a training course offered by Bombardier in Texas after he was offered a job to pilot a Challenger 604. At the same time, he applied for a security check as required by the U.S. Alien Flight Students Program.
In April 2004, Bombardier was notified that Latif had been denied permission to take the course.
Latif was never told the reasons for the denial, but four years later, the United States Justice Department lifted the restrictions.
In the meantime, though, Latif had to change jobs several times and was at one point unemployed.
Latif took his case to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, saying he was discriminated against based on race.
The tribunal agreed and Bombardier was ordered to pay damages worth about $320,000.
But the Quebec Court of Appeal rejected the order, saying there was no evidence that U.S. authorities denied Latif the ability to take the flight training course based on racial profiling.
While the Supreme Court agreed with the appeal court, its unanimous 7-0 decision also says Canadian companies cannot blindly obey the judgement of a foreign authority without exposing themselves to claims of discrimination.
