Looking at the government's site[1] it looks like you're only owed compensation for "flight delays or cancellations that are in their control and not related to safety", so at least with respect to the first delay it's safe to say that the CTA was correct in ruling against you in this case. The second part (ie. "staffing and catering issues cascading (in airline's control)") is in a legal gray zone and I could see it argued either way. For instance, if a flight was 6 hours due to safety issues, and then as a result they're not able to get a flight crew, because they're not expecting a flight to occur at that time, that's arguably caused by the safety issue rather than "in airline's control".
>- CTA made no acknowledgement of the claims that 1) Air Canada did not inform passengers the nature or possible length of delay, 2) did not offer any rebooking, accommodation, or food/drink during extended layover, and 3) the Regulations Amending the Air Passenger Protections Regulations (https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/content/new-refund-regulations-now...) which requires the airline to at least communicate but in many cases offer reimbursement regardless of whether an incident is in or out of their control.
My interpretation here is that if the airline fails to do those things, they're in violation of the regulation and are liable to pay fines to the regulator, but it doesn't say that the passengers are entitled to compensation. At best you could argue that as a result of those delays you had to buy food/transportation/accommodation, submit receipts, and argue that the airline should compensate you for those expenses. I don't think it's something where if they failed to do something, you can straight up demand $$$ as compensation.
>they had simply alerted passengers what was happening and what to expect then I would've arranged a pick up in advance
I think you're overestimating how much the airline knew. If it's a random mechanical issue it's plausible that even they didn't know how long the repairs would take. Same with the staffing/catering issues afterwards.
>or requested that we catch a flight the next day
The regulations does mention "once a delay reaches 3 hours, an airline must also offer alternate travel arrangements in the same class of service and using a reasonable route", but it's unclear whether if the next flight leaves in 12 hours and the delay is 7 hours, whether you can arbitrarily rebook to any flight you want. Moreover, it's possible that the next flight is also full and you can't change to that.
>Well, yes, I'm making a comment on the internet about my negative experience with Air Canada and CTA in about 15 minutes. The claim itself had all the information and took hours to compile, I'm not sure how long it would take for me to simplify that point by point without still missing something.
I mean, as mentioned in the above paragraphs, whether you're entitled to a claim hinges on the cause of the delay, so it's fair to expect that this at least gets a passing mention.
[1] https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/air-passenger-protection-regulatio...