In the messy aftermath of the Toronto airport gold heist — that saw $24 million in gold bars and cash driven away by thieves from an Air Canada warehouse — the airline has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay Brink’s transport company just $18,600 in compensation for their huge loss because of poorly completed paperwork on the stolen shipment.
Brink’s, a U.S.-based secure transit company, sued Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, after a large crate Brink’s was moving from Switzerland to Canada was stolen from the airline’s warehouse at Pearson airport shortly after arriving on an Air Canada flight from Zurich in 2023.
Inside the shipping crate was currency from various countries being shipped from a Swiss bank to a currency exchange in Vancouver, valued at about $2,800,000 at today’s exchange rate, and gold bars from a metal refinery in Switzerland to the TD Bank in Toronto, valued at about $21,528,000.
Brink’s claimed in its lawsuit the shipment was stolen because of woeful security at the warehouse, which included the alleged involvement of Air Canada employees and equipment, and demanded direct compensation for their loss.
Air Canada responded, saying Brink’s failed to declare the shipment’s value and adequately arrange for special security, and so the only compensation is a standard rate for lost cargo based only on weight — meaning the value per kilogram is the same no matter what was inside a crate or a suitcase, whether a passenger’s dirty laundry or gold bars.
During lengthy legal arguments and in court documents, Brink’s said it declared the special nature of the gold in shipping forms saying it was “GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD-GOLD” and placed a value on it of 13,612,696.75 Swiss Francs.
