The plaintiffs claim CAD 809 from the defendant in damages following the cancellation of a ferry service that was scheduled to leave the port of Argentia in Newfoundland but had to be moved to Port‑Aux-Basques. The defendant submits that the events were beyond its control (mechanical problems), and claims that this Court is not the competent court and does not have jurisdiction to hear the present case since, according to the terms of the contract, only the Federal Court of Canada, either in Nova Scotia or in Newfoundland, has jurisdiction.

Held: Claim dismissed. This Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case. The Federal Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case either. The Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador or the Small Claims Court of Nova Scotia are the Courts which may be seized of this dispute.

With regard to liability for the carriage of passengers by water, ss 35-37 of the Maritime Liability Act, SC 2001, c 6, provide for the application of the Athens Convention 1974. Article 1.2 of this Convention defines the 'contract of carriage' and art 1.8 defines 'carriage'. However, in this case the facts of the case are not covered by the 'periods', according to the definition of 'carriage':

'carriage' covers the following periods:

(a) with regard to the passenger and his cabin luggage, the period during which the passenger and/or his cabin luggage are on board the ship or in the course of embarkation or disembarkation, and the period during which the passenger and his cabin luggage are transported by water from land to the ship or vice-versa, if the cost of such transport is included in the fare or if the vessel used for this purpose of auxiliary transport has been put at the disposal of the passenger by the carrier. However, with regard to the passenger, carriage does not include the period during which he is in a marine terminal or station or on a quay or in or on any other port installation;

(b) with regard to cabin luggage, also the period during which the passenger is in a marine terminal or station or on a quay or in or on any other port installation if that luggage has been taken over by the carrier or his servant or agent and has not been re-delivered to the passenger;

(c) with regard to other luggage which is not cabin luggage, the period from the time of its taking over by the carrier or his servant or agent on shore or on board until the time of its re-delivery by the carrier or his servant or agent ...

In addition, art 1.4 of the Athens Convention indicates that the term 'passenger' means a person carried on a ship, under a contract of carriage. In this case, the plaintiffs were not transported as part of the action brought.

In the present case, therefore, it could not be a case of liability in matters of passenger transport by water within the meaning of the MLA. Thus, the MLA would not allow jurisdiction to be conferred on the Federal Court.