What is the test for damages under s. 647(2) of the Canadian Maritime Code of Conduct?

In order to succeed under this head, the corporation must show that the losses occurred without its "actual fault or privity", and the burden of so doing is a heavy one indeed: see Vaccher v. Kaufman (1981), 1981 CanLII 178 (SCC), 121 D.L.R. (3d) 1, [1981] 1 S.C.R. 301. The relevant provisions of s. 647 read: 647(2) The owner of a ship, whether registered in Canada or not, is not, where any of the following events occur without his actual fault or privity, namely, • • • • • (d) where any loss or damage is caused to any property, other than property described in paragraph (b), or any rights are infringed through (i) the act or omission of any person, whether on board that ship or not, in the navigation or management of the ship, in the loading, carriage or discharge of its cargo or in the embarkation, carriage or disembarkation of its passengers, • • • • • liable for damages beyond the following amounts, namely, • • • • • (f) in respect of any loss or damage to property or any infringement of any rights mentioned in paragraph (d), an aggregate amount equivalent to 1,000 gold francs for each ton of that ship's tonnage. The test thus adopted is found in the statute law of the United Kingdom where in recent times a drastically different test[3] based upon the 1976 Convention was adopted but not immediately proclaimed.