BY BI: The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Bombardier, a Montreal-based company, did not discriminate against Javed Latif, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, when it denied him a training course on one of its jets. The Court rejected an appeal from a Canadian pilot who claimed he was discriminated against by Bombardier Inc., based on his race. (What ‘race’ is Islam?)

National Post In the case brought by Javed Latif, all seven justices who heard the appeal sided with Montreal-based Bombardier, declaring that the company did not discriminate against Latif, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, when it denied him a training course on one of its jets. It’s the first time the high court has heard a discrimination case based on allegations of racism stemming from a decision made by a foreign authority.

In 2004, Latif had applied, using his U.S. pilot’s license, to take a training course offered by Bombardier in Texas after he was offered a job to pilot a Challenger 604. At the same time, he applied for a security check as required by the U.S. Alien Flight Students Program.

He had held a U.S. pilot’s license since 1991 and had been flying for nearly five decades. He had also been previously granted security clearance to train to fly a Boeing 737 for Mid East Jet.

But in April 2004, Bombardier was notified that Latif had been denied permission to take the course, under aviation security measures that had been adopted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Latif then requested the training from Bombardier using his Canadian pilot’s license, but they rejected his request on the basis of the U.S. decision.

He took the case to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, saying he was discriminated against based on race. The tribunal agreed and Bombardier was ordered to pay damages worth about $320,000.

But the Quebec Court of Appeal rejected the order, saying there was no evidence other than circumstantial that U.S. authorities denied Latif the ability to take the flight training course based on racial profiling.