Some B.C. passengers who filed airline-related complaints with the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) say they are greatly concerned the tribunal has put disputes on hold.
“Why have they stopped this when they’ve done a lot of good rulings and they are very thorough,” said B.C. airline passenger Mats Gerschman. “It was a way as a consumer I could turn and where I could, in my opinion, get fair treatment.”
The CRT has jurisdiction to hear small claims for airline-related disputes around delays, cancellations and lost baggage.
Recently, the tribunal notified impacted consumers the recent Supreme Court of Canada’s decision which upheld Air Passenger Protection Regulations may impact the CRT’s jurisdiction over these types of claims.
Air passenger rights advocate Gábor Lukács says he’s alarmed by the move and is struggling to understand what the CRT review entails. “Who actually signed off on this? Who decided this and on what grounds?” he told Consumer Matters.
“And where is the procedural fairness to the thousands of passengers who have claims pending? They have the right to know who made this decision, why they made this decision and what concerns there are about the jurisdiction and these passengers need to be heard.”
The tribunal confirmed to Consumer Matters for Air Passenger Protection Regulation related disputes not yet assigned to a tribunal member for adjudication those disputes have been put on hold as the CRT reviews the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision.
Consumer Matters also contacted the office of B.C.’s Attorney General asking for more details and were told because the province is in the middle of an election the government is in a “caretaker mode” and all government of B.C. communications are limited.
Still – a statement was provided which said in part:
“The recent SCC (Supreme Court of Canada) decision considers the application of two pieces of federal legislation that affect the compensation airline passengers are entitled to. This means the SCC decision on the application of this federal legislation may affect current or future CRT decisions relating to airline disputes.”
“How is this possible that from a decision from the Supreme Court of Canada that upholds the consumer protection regime suddenly someone deduces that they have to put those complaints on hold? It is troubling,” said Lukács.
Right now, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) – an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator told Consumer Matters the current backlog of air travel complaints stands at roughly 80,000.
Lukács says going forward he’s concerned about access to justice. “I am concerned that now consumers are barred from the one form in British Columbia that has been fair, impartial and delivering justice to Canadian passengers in BC,” he said.
If there is an issue around jurisdiction, Lukács hopes the matter is dealt with in public so passengers and consumer advocates have an opportunity to make submissions and have their voices heard.