The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal over a rent dispute between cannabis company Aphria Inc. and the financial firms that are the landlords for its former office space in Toronto, including Canada Life Assurance Co., I.G. Investment Management Ltd. and OPTrust Office Inc.
The court granted an application for leave to appeal a decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in December 2024, which upheld the Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s ruling in favour of the firms acting as landlords.
According to those decisions, in 2018 Aphria signed a 10-year lease on office space in downtown Toronto in a building that was sold to Canada Life, IG Investment Management as trustee for the IG Mackenzie Real Property Fund and OPTrust Office in 2019.
In 2021, the company attempted to repudiate the lease and vacate the property. However, the landlords refused to accept the repudiation and maintained that the lease remained in force, and that Aphria had the right to find a subtenant if it wished. The cannabis company insisted it was up to the landlords to mitigate damages and find a replacement tenant.
Ultimately, the landlords sued for unpaid rent, and the Superior Court sided with them, granting summary judgment for the rent owing plus interest — but it denied their request for future rent.
The appeal court unanimously upheld the decision, ruling that the lower court didn’t err in its interpretation of the lease or in finding that the landlords could refuse to accept the repudiation and had no obligation to mitigate.
Now, the Supreme Court will hear a proposed appeal from Aphria.