Transport Canada is facing a collective action of the Moroccan community established in Canada, which was authorized by the honorable judge Lukasz GRANOSIK of the Superior Court of Quebec and led by Me Nawal BENROUAYENE.
The collective action request targets all individuals who were affected by the suspension of direct flights between Morocco and Canada, which lasted 30 days, from August 29 to September 29, 2021.
The plaintiffs, which include Canadian citizens, permanent residents in Canada, and Moroccan students established in Canada, alleging that Transport Canada’s decision to suspend all direct flights between the two countries caused moral, material, and financial harm. They claim that this unilateral and hasty decision took hostage about 13,000 Canadian citizens and residents established in Morocco.
The pandemic has already caused difficulties for many Canadians who were forced to stay in the country for two years, and these thousands of people had decided to travel for essential reasons, such as assisting a distressed loved one or attending funerals, or settling urgent legal or financial issues. The plaintiffs claim that few people have traveled for tourist reasons or to visit their families, even if these latter had to do so for obvious mental health reasons.
The plaintiffs argue that other solutions could have been discussed before this decision was taken unilaterally by Canada. They claim that indirect flights are not feasible for most of the people concerned because of the constraints imposed by transit countries (visas), financial constraints (the cost of tickets has tripled), available dates that are incompatible with commitments made to employers, schools, and other third parties, and especially the hardship of these flights with many stopovers, especially for large families with children who are forced to spend long hours in airport halls with no means to help them or for people who are unable to make stopover flights due to their young age or health condition.
In reaction to this situation, Me Nawal BENROUAYENE and a team of from the Moroccan community established in Canada organized two sit-ins to protest against this decision. The first sit-in took place on September 5, 2021, in front of the main residence of the honorable Justin Trudeau and a second sit-in took place on September 6, 2021, in front of the constituency office of the honorable Justin Trudeau in Montreal.
Me Nawal BENROUAYENE also introduced a collective action for compensatory, moral, and punitive damages against the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) due to Transport Canada’s decision to suspend direct flights from Morocco. She proposes a group of individuals affected by this decision and who suffered moral, material, and financial harm as a result.
Your contacts:
– Me Nawal BENROUAYENE: 514 699-1888 / 450 396-4004
– Dr. El Amine SERHANI: 514 701-6110
– Mrs. Chaimaa MOUKHLISSE: 613 898-9342
