Each Monday I will provide a potpourri of Quebec (and Canadian) legal developments. Issue 02 (27 Jan 2025) notes that half of Canadian corporate counsel expect an increase in the number of lawsuits and regulatory investigations, Canada’s largest printer illegally used facial recognition at one of its plants, a legal challenge that sought to declare null and inoperable a provision of the Health Insurance Act failed, and the so-called Tinder rapist given a historic sentence.
Lawsuits and regulatory investigations expected to increase, according to survey
Nearly half of Canadian corporate counsel expect an increase in the number of lawsuits and regulatory investigations that will affect their organization in the upcoming year, according to a recent survey by Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.
Corporate counsel also foresee increased cybersecurity and data privacy dispute risk due to a move towards tougher privacy laws, federally and provincially, reveals the survey.
“Starting with the coming into force of Law 25 in Quebec – a privacy law modelled on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation – Canadian privacy laws have been moving from an ombudsman model to one of strong enforcement by regulators,” underlined Imran Ahmad, Norton Rose Fulbright partner and Co-Chair of the Data Protection, Privacy & Cybersecurity practice group.
Changes to the Competition Act dealing with environmental, social and governance (ESG) also may prompt more suits, and is expected to heighten exposure for companies operating in Canada. Nearly two thirds, or 63 percent, of respondents subject to Canadian regulation expect the regulatory change to increase greenwashing claims against their organizations over the next 12 months. The new regulation classifies misleading environmental claims within deceptive marketing practices frameworks.
“These regulatory changes will increase companies’ potential exposure to ESG-related legal claims,” said Ray Chartier, senior partner and Canadian Co-Head of Responsible Business and Sustainability at Norton Rose Fulbright.
“In Canada, new greenwashing provisions will enable private parties, which may include climate activists and environmental advocacy groups, to bring cases alleging deceptive advertising practices directly before the Canadian Competition Tribunal as of mid-2025.”
Printing company illegally used facial recognition
Canada’s largest printer illegally used facial recognition at one of its plants, ruled Quebec’s Commission of Access to Information in a singular decision over the use of biometrics, the first since legislation was bolstered in 2022.
“The immutable nature of this information makes it particularly sensitive in the event of a confidentiality incident, and the malicious use of this information can have serious consequences for the consequences for the individuals concerned,” said the Commission.
In fiscal 2023-2024, 124 entities declared that they used biometrics, 119 from the private sector and six from the public sector, according to the Commission’s 2023-2024 Annual business and management report. That represents a a 59 per cent increase over the previous year.
Any organization that wants to use biometrics is obliged to disclose it to the Commission, if the technology verifies or confirms identities or if it creates biometric data bank.
Bid to declare provision of Quebec Health Insurance Act discriminatory fails
A legal challenge that sought to declare null and inoperable a provision of the Health Insurance Act that puts a cap on the reimbursement of medical expenses provided in another province failed after the Court of Appeal held that the limits imposed by the Quebec legislature are not arbitrary and not based on a stereotype of a prejudice.
The case was launched after a Quebec resident who temporarily lived in British Columbia for six months with her partner for professional reasons had to terminate her pregnancy for medical reasons — and paid out of pocket the costs related to the care she received. When she came back to Quebec, she sought a reimbursement of expenses before the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec. The Health Insurance Board reimbursed her $605 out of $1,715, the amount that would have been paid to health professionals for equivalent care in Quebec.
The Quebec woman claimed that section 10, paragraph 4, of the Health Insurance Act, which sets a cap on the reimbursement of medical services received outside Quebec, discriminates against Quebec women that require reproductive health care. She argued that this provision is contrary to section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed her challenge. “It has not been proven here that women receiving pregnancy-related services outside Quebec obtain, under sections 10 or 11 of the Act, a reimbursement or a payment of a lesser amount than that received by men or any insured persons who received any other type of care,” concluded the Quebec Appeal Court in A.P. v. Procureur général du Québec, 2025 QCCA 24.
“It is a limit that goes to the very nature of the health care plan set up by the province and by which the various needs, interests, requirements and constraints (including financial) unique to a public health system can be reconciled, for the benefit of as many people as possible,” added Quebec Appeal Court Justice Marie-France Bich, in reasons that Justices Patrick Healy and Benoît Moore concurred with.
Tinder rapist given historic sentence
A Montreal man, also known as the “Tinder Rapist,” was sentenced to 25 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a dozen women, the harshest sentence levied against a sexual predator in Quebec.
Samuel Moderie was also placed on the sex offender registry for life and was labelled a long-term offender, which comes with a 10-year surveillance period after release.
Moderie’s modus operandi echoes the notorious Pelicot case that shocked the world. In December a French court found Dominique Pelicot of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for nearly a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her unconscious body. All of Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants too were found guilty of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.
Like Gisèle Pelicot, most of Moderie’s victims have no recollection of being sexually abused. And like Dominique Pelicot, Moderie would drug the women he met online before repeatedly assaulting them.
The 30-year-old man was arrested in 2023 and was charged with more than 40 offences after 13 victims were identified, many of whom met him on the dating app Tinder. Last fall, he pleaded guilty to 24 sex-related offences.
“It should be noted that while the offence of sexual assault set out in section 271 a) of the (Criminal) Code makes those guilty of it liable to ten years’ imprisonment, the maximum penalty for administering drugs or soporifics to facilitate the commission of a criminal act is life imprisonment, and for good reason when you consider the dangers inherent in this type of crime,” said Court of Quebec Judge Pierre Dupras in R. c. Moderie, 2025 QCCQ 47.
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