Article in French. I want all of Canada in on this. We should start collecting pics of mislabeled products in stores as well.
Definitely should be a national suit. Not sure how it will apply given differences in Québec’s legal system, but I don’t understand how it could not be considered misleading for a store to label the origin of a product differently than what is stated on the product.
Im curious about what the law considers something to be “false advertising” or not. My guess is that false advertising focuses heavily on the final product. They’re still providing the product that’s advertised on the packaging so it’s not false advertising. But the laws around what can be classified as “Made in Canada” could be a lot looser. A product can have so many steps and parts in its creation, and each step/part can be all over the globe; so how do we define something that’s “Canadian”? (I’m assuming this is already answered in case law)
I’ve noticed grocers are attempting to skirt the definitions by claiming things are “prepared” in Canada, even if the product itself is foreign. I’m sure that’s how they’ll attempt to get by this lawsuit.
Translated to English
Major grocery chains targeted in class action lawsuit
Have you ever bought a Canadian product at the grocery store, relying on a label on the shelf, only to realize once you got home that it was actually an imported product? A Montrealer shocked by this experience has just filed a class action lawsuit on the matter.
All major Canadian grocery chains are affected by the request: Loblaw (Maxi, Provigo), Metro (Super C, Adonis), Sobeys (IGA, Marché Bonichoix), Giant Tiger and Walmart Canada.
The class action claim claims, with supporting photos, that these chains placed symbols and notices on their shelves or displays that could lead people to believe that the products came from Canada or Quebec when in fact they came from the United States or other countries elsewhere in the world.
“Over the past year, buying Canadian and supporting Canadian producers has become more prominent in Canadian social consciousness, largely due to customs fees,” reads the class action filed Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse.
“The problem is that […] many of these products advertised and sold by the [targeted grocers] as being “Canadian” were in fact imported from other countries,” continues the text, which calls this practice maple-washing .
The Montrealer who filed the class action lawsuit believes he would not have purchased some of these products if he had not believed they were of Canadian origin.
Bailiffs in grocery stores The purchase of a box of Val Nature brand granola bars at a Montreal Provigo store was the final straw. According to the photos filed in the application, the price tag for the granola bars was framed by a sign featuring maple leaves and stating “Prepared in Canada.” However, reading the small print directly on the granola bar box revealed the words “Product of the USA.”
“I asked him to take photos, which he did, and then we wondered if it was systemic,” says Joey Zukran of LPC Avocats, who is leading the case together with Michael Vathilakis of the Renno Vathilakis firm.
“We hired bailiffs who traveled almost everywhere in Quebec, and they prepared a report for us, compiling evidence that it’s not just one or two items in a store; it’s truly systemic. And worse still, it’s the same thing for private labels,” the lawyer says.
“It’s impossible for them not to know that these are products that are not made in Canada, because they are the ones who make them elsewhere,” he continues.
Anyone who purchased an item identified as Canadian or domestic in one of the affected grocery stores, but which was actually imported from another country, could be part of the class represented in the class action, if the application is accepted in its current form.
The objectives of the class action are to stop these display methods, which are considered misleading, and to obtain financial compensation for the group members. The amount of the compensation sought was not quantified in the document.
The grocers in question did not respond to La Presse 's interview requests .
