Class Actions in Canada

Whatever deficits remain in the Canadian project to make justice available to all, class actions have been heralded as a success story. Beginning in 1979 in Quebec, and in the '90s for most of English-speaking Canada, class actions were introduced to overcome barriers to justice for those who would otherwise have no recourse to the courts. Class Actions in Canada critically and empirically examines whether collective litigation is meeting this primary goal. First drawing on foundational literature and recent jurisprudence to propose a conceptualization that moves beyond mere access to a court procedure, leading class action scholar Jasminka Kalajdzic then methodically assesses survey data and case studies to determine how class action practice fulfills or falls short of its objectives. Class Actions in Canada takes a rigorous, evidence-based approach. With class actions becoming increasingly controversial in the United States and collective redress mechanisms being cautiously adopted in many other parts of the world, this is a timely exploration of collective litigation as it has evolved in Canada over the past twenty-five years, and particularly in Ontario.