![]() Children systematically suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse isolation from peers, family members, and tribal customs exposure to disease and overwork. However, instead of education, assimilation was the goal of this program.Īttendance at residential schools was mandatory. In the 19th century, the Canadian government created a system of residential or boarding schools to educate the children of Indigenous peoples. In spite of the judgment in their favor, this may ultimately reduce the compensation to which consumers have access. However, all three companies attained creditor protection after the appeal. An appeals court upheld this ruling in 2019. In 2015, Quebec Superior Court ordered the defendants to pay $15 billion in damages. Smokers in Quebec have sought legal action against cigarette makers Rothman Benson & Hedges, JTI-MacDonald, and Imperial Tobacco Canada for failure to warn consumers about the dangers of cigarettes. To this day, the largest class action settlement in history remains the $206 billion agreement reached between public prosecutors in the United States with Philip Morris and other major tobacco companies.Ĭanada is now seeing its own landmark tobacco class action case play out in the courts. ![]() Tobacco Class Action LawsuitĬlass actions have long been an effective legal tool in holding tobacco companies accountable for misleading the public about the safety of cigarettes and the health consequences of smoking. To get a more complete picture of the impact of class action lawsuits, let’s take a look at five of the largest class action verdicts and settlements in Canadian legal history: 1. Historically, mass actions have exposed gross negligence, misconduct, and inequitable policies of major corporations, government agencies, and other parties that may have avoided accountability without multiple individuals banding together to take on a much larger foe. ![]() Today, except for Prince Edward Island, all provinces in Canada have some sort of class action legislation.ĭespite the relatively recent advent of class actions in Canada, these cases are important not only as a means of compensating significant numbers of people who have suffered from the same violation, but as a tool for social change. Ontario was the next to institute class action legislation in 1993 with its Class Proceedings Act, followed by British Columbia in 1995 with legislation of the same name. ![]() In 1978, Quebec became the first province to add provisions specifically addressing class actions to its Code of Civil Procedure. History of Class Action Law in CanadaĬlass actions have their root in centuries-old English common law, but the precedent is relatively recent in Canada. Because so many people are affected, and because corporate or government wrongdoing on a grand scale is often involved, it is not uncommon for class actions to receive national or even international media attention. Some class action lawsuits revolve around serious injuries – often to scores of people, and not just one individual or a few people – while others involve violations of legal or consumer rights. Instead of just one person suing, or a few people suing separately, for some kind of wrongdoing, class actions provide a way for an entire group of people who have suffered similar damages from the negligence or misconduct of the same defendant to pursue justice without the burden of taking individual legal action. Class action lawsuits are very different from the kinds of legal cases you might hear about day to day.
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