Introduction

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INTRODUCTION

This latest issue of The Canadian Class Action Review comes at a time of

great social uncertainly, when Canadians are facing huge and unexpected

dangers and challenges. This issue covers a range of topics, from employee

rights to data breaches to third party funding, carefully looking at the

ways that class actions can best serve the people.

Pierre-Claude Lafond’s article sets the scene by examining the

role that class actions play in vulnerable communities. In a time when

large groups of people are facing extreme vulnerability, it is important

to remember the impact that class actions can have, both by providing

access to justice and by instigating legislative change. Lafond examines

some key cases that demonstrate how class actions serve the needs of vul-

nerable groups, focusing specif‌ically on sexual assault and mistreatment

of sick or elderly people in hospitals and long-term care facilities — this

latter being a topic particularly relevant right now. It is a concise and

thoughtful piece that looks at the good that class actions can and have

brought to society.

Next, Nora Parker’s extremely contemporary essay addresses the

issue of employee rights in a modern world rife with new technology,

new business models, and boilerplate contracts. She approaches the issue

by examining a class action against the multi-national company Uber

for misclassifying its drivers as independent contractors rather than as

employees, denying them many basic worker rights. Parker explains how

Uber has set up a complicated and virtually inaccessible arbitration pro-

cess, rendering it almost impossible for the drivers to access justice, and

the role that class actions can and must play to support workers in that

and similar situations.

Though class actions are often compared to individual claims, Helene

Love takes a more unusual approach by examining them in relation to aggre-

gate claims before administrative tribunals. Love argues that in our current

legal system, administrative tribunals, despite being created to address the