Forrest C. Hume

Counsel

Forrest is an expert in the field and extremely knowledgeable.

— client feedback, Rail & Road, Chambers Canada

Emailforrest.hume@dlapiper.com

Call+1 604 643 6405

Vancouver Toronto Calgary Montréal

About

Areas of FocusTransport Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations

Bar admissionsQuébec, 1997

EXPERIENCE

EXAMPLES OF RECENT LEADING CASES

Canadian National Railway Company v. Western Canadian Coal Corp. [2007] F.C.J. No. 988 (established that the final offer arbitration provisions of the Canada Transportation Act did not violate the railway’s rights under the Canadian Bill of Rights)
Canadian National Railway Company v. Northgate Terminals Ltd., 2010 FCA 147 (established that terminals are entitled to complain to the Canadian Transportation Agency that a federally-regulated railway is in breach of its level of service obligations pursuant to the Canada Transportation Act)
Quebec North Shore & Labrador Railway v. New Millennium Capital Corp. [2011] F.C. 765 (dismissed a second railway challenge to the final offer arbitration provisions of the Canada Transportation Act on the basis that they violate the railway’s rights under the Canadian Bill of Rights)
Canadian National Railway Co. v. Canada (Attorney General), [2014] 2 SCR 135, 2014 SCC 40 (established that shippers have the right to apply to the Canadian Transportation Agency for a determination that a railway’s fuel surcharge is unreasonable pursuant to section 120.1 of the Canada Transportation Act notwithstanding the existence of a confidential contract between the parties, This decision sustained an Order-in-Council that was issued to require the Agency to hear the application of such shippers)
Canadian Pacific Railway Company v. Canada (Transport, Infrastructure and Communities), 2015 FCA 1 (established that the interchange between the lines of CP and BNSF at Coutts, AB ; Sweet Grass, MT was an interchange within the meaning of the Canada Transportation Act, and that shippers are entitled to require that traffic be interchanged at that location at prescribed rates).
Canadian National Railway Company v. Louis Dreyfus Commodities Canada Ltd., 2016 FCA 232 (clarification of the proper interpretation of the level of service provisions of the Canada Transportation Act including an analysis of the seminal Patchett case, Patchett & Sons Ltd. v. Pacific Great Eastern Railway Co., [1959] SCR 271)
Canadian National Railway Company v. Emerson Milling Inc., 2017 FCA 86, leave to appeal to SCC refused, 2018 CanLII 7101 (established that a railway’s level of service obligation to shippers is statutory, not contractual, and that shippers may require a Class I railway to provide service on the railway’s infrastructure pursuant to the provisions of the Canada Transportation Act, notwithstanding that the shippers do not have their own infrastructure for that purpose at their facilities - the Supreme Court of Canada denied CN leave to appeal the decision in 2018)

Languages

Education

LL.B., Dalhousie University, 1974 (converted to J.D. 2011)

B.A., Dalhousie University, 1970

Awards

Memberships And Affiliations

Professionals for Rail Safety Accountability Inc., Vice-President, 2003 to present
Advisor to the Freight Management Association of Canada
Canadian Bar Association
Law Society of British Columbia
Barreau du Quebéc
Nova Scotia Barristers' Society
Law Society of New Brunswick