Arbitrator awards former CFL player Bruce $25,000 in damages

Former CFL player Arland Bruce III was awarded $25,000 in damages by an arbitrator earlier this month after suffering a concussion in a 2012 game.

The amount is significantly lower than the $310,000 Bruce had been seeking.

In a May 6 decision, arbitrator Allen Ponak ruled both the B.C. Lions and Montreal Alouettes committed three breaches of the collective agreement related to concussion management.

However, Ponak said that no previous arbitration cases under a collective bargaining agreement were cited “in which damage awards for safety violations have been anywhere close to the amounts being sought.”

Bruce filed a grievance alleging the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Lions, Alouettes and CFL failed to provide adequate medical care before, during, and after his concussion, violating the collective agreement between the league and the CFL Players’ Association (CFLPA).

Bruce, a former wide receiver, also claimed he suffered permanent physical and cognitive brain damage as a result. He received the concussion during a game in 2012 while a member of the Lions.

Ponak ruled there were two contract violations by the Lions around clearing Bruce to play in 2012 without pre-season medical followup, and then Bruce’s return to game play without a physician’s medical clearance.

He also found one violation by the Alouettes around their failure to retain a brain injury assessment for Bruce, that it claims to have administered.

In March 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada decided against hearing Bruce’s concussion lawsuit against the CFL and former commissioner Mark Cohon. It came after two B.C. courts, the Supreme Court of British Columbia and B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed the suit, saying the Supreme Court previously ruled unionized employees must use labour arbitration and not the courts to resolve disputes arising from their collective agreement.

Bruce’s lawyers had argued the CFL’s collective agreement was unusual because athletes individually negotiated their pay, and it had no long-term disability insurance plan, but players were also excluded from occupational health and safety regulations and ineligible for workers’ compensation.

Bruce played 12 CFL seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2001—02), Toronto Argonauts (2004—09), Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2009-11), B.C. (2011—12) and Montreal (2013). The two-time Grey Cup champion and three-time CFL all-star also spent time in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs (2000) and San Francisco 49ers (2003).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2026.

The Canadian Press