MONTREAL — A Pakistani-born pilot who was blacklisted as a security threat by U.S. security forces has won an unprecedented $319,000 from Bombardier Inc. because it refused to give him pilot training.

The Quebec human rights commission ruled recently that Javed Latif had been discriminated against because of his ethnic orgin and nationality and had his dignity compromised.

Latif's lawyers were still looking for him Wednesday to tell him about the settlement -- the biggest the commission has ever awarded.

"We're pretty thrilled with the decision," said Catherine McKenzie, one of Latif's lawyers, adding she and the commission had tried to reach Latif without success.

"He's often flying out of the country. He may not know about it."

Latif, who has been a pilot for 25 years, was turned down by Bombardier in 2004 because American authorities deemed him "a threat to national security."

A spokeswoman for Bombardier Aerospace (TSX:BBD.B) said the company was still reviewing the decision, which was made public Wednesday.

"I can confirm that, since 2008, Mr. Latif has followed some training sessions here at Bombardier, since the American authorities decided to lift the ban," said Sylvie Gauthier. "He's followed now three training sessions here."

Gauthier said Bombardier will decide in the coming weeks whether to appeal.

McKenzie says U.S. authorities had authorized Latif to get training in 2003 but then reversed themselves and did not tell him why.

She said Bombardier then refused him training in 2004 not only on his U.S. licence but his Canadian one as well.

While the case was pending, U.S. authorities reversed their decision against Latif again -- and once more did not tell him why -- and he was able to get training from Bombardier and resume working as a pilot in 2010.

"The kinds of airplanes that Mr. Latif flies are Bombardier planes and he can only obtain that training at Bombardier facilities, which was the problem," McKenzie said. "He couldn't go elsewhere.

"It was a very frustrating situation for Mr. Latif."

In the stinging ruling against Bombardier, Judge Michele Rivet said Bombardier never tried to find out if Latif was a security risk for Canadians or Canadian aviation or try to get advice from Transport Canada or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

She found there was an unlawful interference with Latif's rights.

Latif testified he felt he had been a victim of mistaken identity.

Besides being humiliated, he said he was shunned in the aviation milieu and experienced financial problems because he could not get the training upgrades needed to continue working as a pilot.

The head of the training centre told the hearing that American authorities told him not to train Latif and he agreed.

He said he considered the Americans credible, even though the Montreal facility had trained Latif on several other occasions.

The centre's director said Latif was thus considered a "potential terrorist" and that training him would have had "serious consequences for Bombardier Inc."

But a professor at the University of Windsor, told the tribunal that many of the security programs implemented in the U.S. since the terrorist attacks in September 2001 are based on stereotypes and racial profiling.

Reem Anne Badhi said it is difficult to correct mistakes because there is no complaint system. Badhi noted the United States has labelled more than 700,000 people as "potential terrorists" since 2007.

McKenzie said Latif, who lives in Toronto, now flies private jets for companies in the Middle East.