Bachrach calls on minister to stand up to big airlines, overhaul passenger protections
MEDIA RELEASE: NDP calls for automatic compensation when Canadians’ flights are delayed
MEDIA RELEASE: NDP calls for automatic compensation when Canadians’ flights are delayed
OTTAWA - On Thursday, NDP Transport Critic Taylor Bachrach (Skeena—Bulkley Valley) called for a suite of changes to air passenger protections, including automatic compensation for travellers whose flights are delayed.
“When your fight is delayed, your compensation shouldn’t be,” said Bachrach. “The fact Canadians are having to wait over 18 months for their complaints to be heard shows the Liberal government’s current approach is deeply flawed."
“Right now, people who’ve already endured the stress caused by delays and cancelled flights have to jump through endless hoops to be compensated, and the airlines are making sure it can take months or even years. When airlines’ flight schedules get snarled, people miss weddings, funerals and vacations they’ve been saving up for. Some are left stranded. The difficulty of a delayed or cancelled flight shouldn’t be followed by the nightmare of fighting for compensation.”
Bachrach said the Liberals’ original design of its Air Passenger Protection Regulations left massive loopholes that allow airlines to avoid paying people. As a result, the Canadian Transportation Agency has a backlog of 33,000 complaints from people who say they’ve been treated unfairly by airlines when it comes to compensation — about a two-year wait.
The issues over the holidays are part of a larger pattern of the Liberal government refusing to stand up to the airlines on behalf of passengers,” added Bachrach. “Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra can provide direction to both the Canadian Transportation Agency and the airlines themselves, but despite all the disruptions over the course of two travel seasons, he hasn’t once used that power.”
“New Democrats are calling for real protections for passengers, which would align with the protections European passengers already enjoy. Those include automatic compensation for flight disruptions, closing loopholes that let airlines avoid reimbursing travellers, and tougher enforcement. We will keep fighting for Canadians until the Liberals, and the big airlines start to treat them with respect.”
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The rally is organized by the Hong Kong Pathway Alliance. Similar events are also taking place in Calgary and Toronto.
The pathway allows eligible Hong Kong residents in Canada, including people who studied or worked here, to apply for PR.
People here say they have waited for years and still do not know when their applications will be finished.
“Right now I’m stuck in limbo. It’s been a year and a half. I haven’t heard back from the IRCC regarding my application, and we’re continuously arguing with, we’re continuously hoping that IRCC sees our cases,” said Vikrambir Singh, another demonstrator.
“There’s not just me, there’s 40,000 plus applications that are stuck in limbo, and we don’t know when they’re going to get processed.”
They also point to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) processing time tool, which now suggests new applicants could wait more than 10 years for their PR.
The Immigration Minister recently told Parliament that there have been more than 46,000 applications under the Hong Kong PR pathways, and just over 13,000 had arrived.
“And the minister’s solution is, “don’t apply under the lifeboat scheme”. What is she even talking about? That scheme was specifically designed for Hong Kongers, said MP Jenny Kwan, representing Vancouver East for the NDP.
“So, it is absolutely outrageous that she would renege on the government’s promise in suggesting that the Hong Kongers should apply under a different stream. It is absolutely unacceptable.”
The federal government introduced special measures for Hong Kong residents in 2020, after China imposed the national security law in Hong Kong.
*Click image or link to read or watch the TV news story - https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/06/07/demonstrators-rally-hong-kong-pr-processing-backlog/
OTTAWA—The Canadian government is considering the use of artificial intelligence to save time creating influential assessment profile reports of offenders as they go to federal prisons, and is running a small-scale trial to test it, the Star has learned.
Carney government releases AI road map that aims to make Canada a leader
Federal Politics
Carney government releases AI road map that aims to make Canada a leader
Mentioned in lengthy documents tabled in Parliament last month and confirmed by Correctional Service Canada (CSC), the test run comes as the Carney government tries to ramp up AI adoption, including with billions in a national strategy released this week.
But the prison trial, which CSC says has not yet been used in real cases, is raising concerns from AI experts, criminal defence lawyers and the federal NDP’s public safety critic, who argue a widespread adoption could lead to crucial errors, exacerbate racial biases and put offenders and victims at risk.
Criminal profile reports, as they are called, are detailed “foundational documents” prepared by CSC staff during a prisoner’s intake process that identify risks and play a role in major decisions like access to programs and likelihood of parole.
Drawing from scores of official documents, they include details about an offender’s criminal history, the circumstances of their crimes, patterns of violence or behavioural, mental health and addiction issues, family and social background, trauma history, education and employment records, and even victim impact statements.
“This is what defines your offence cycle,” criminal defence lawyer Nora Demnati said of those reports. “It will have an impact on everything else that comes.”
That’s why the Carney government should slow down and consult widely, including with the CSC union, its lawyers and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada before going further, said NDP MP Jenny Kwan, the party’s public safety critic. Neither the Union of Safety and Justice Employees or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner have been consulted yet, they told the Star.
Kwan warned of a multitude of legal concerns that go both ways and can have a “cascading impact”: Violating the rights of inmates if mistakes are added to reports, on one hand, or hurting victims and prison staff if crucial information is missed by the AI summaries, on the other.
“When you have those kinds of risks associated with correctional policing matters, you can imagine what the huge ramifications might be,” Kwan told the Star. “You could potentially compromise people’s legal rights.”