Federal Court Decison and Bill C-481 Hearings



Standing Committee Hearing, March 8, 2011 (mp3)

Saturday, February 19^th, 2011 - In -camera Hearings

The Parliamentary Committee reviewing Bill C-481 held a very short in-camera session on the morning of February 17th for the purpose of setting down a date for the remaining deliberation of Bill C-481. The Committee set the date of Thursday, March 8th. There apparently was no substantive discussion of the issues related to the Bill at Thursday's meeting.

Standing Committee Hearing, February 15, 2011 (mp3):

Part 1

Part 2

The Parliamentary Committee reviewing Bill C-481 heard from several six witnesses today, including representatives from ACPA.  As it turns out, the sparse 30 minutes for debate and amendment to the Bill was wholly insufficient to deal with issues raised in the testimony, including the proposed amendments. The Committee will meet again this Thursday, at 10:30 Eastern, to deal with a motion to table the proceedings and to reconvene at a later date, when testimony is available from witnesses to deal with a possible amendment to exempt employees of organizations that have bona fide pension plans from the entire scope of the general prohibition against discrimination on the basis of age. The likely date for the continuance of evidence appears to be March 3rd.

Standing Committee Hearing, February 10, 2011 (mp3):

Hour 1

Hour 2

The Parliamentary Committee reviewing Bill C-481 heard from several witnesses today, including George Vilven, Neil Kelly and our expert witness, Professor Jonathan Kesselment. Other witnesses included personnel from the Canadian Human Rights Commission and a representative of employer organizations in the federal transportation and communications industries. All witnesses spoke in favour of the Bill, namely, repealing mandatory retirement in the federal jurisdiction.

Federal Court Judicial Review Decision, February 3, 2011 :

2011 FC 120

The Federal Court released its decision in the 2010 judicial review of the August, 2009 Tribunal Vilven-Kelly liability decision. The Court dismissed Air Canada's and ACPA's application for judicial review of the Tribunal's Charter decision, but upheld the judicial review of the Tribunal's BFOR decision, in part, remitting the decision back to the Tribunal for reconsideration on the record. It should be noted that the BFOR decision, once re-decided, will affect Mssrs. Vilven and Kelly only, wherease the Court's decision on the Charter issue is now binding upon the Tribunal for all other Air Canada pilot mandatory retirement cases. This decision should expedite the remaining hearings before the Tribunal, but is very, very likely to be appealed by either or both Air Canada and ACPA, to the Federal Court of Appeal.

Courtesy: FlyPast60.com