How do you know they were? If they OP was frequent flyer (i.e. *A Gold or above, or travelling in J) then they are fully covered per *A rules even if the cause was nasty weather since this was a inter-continental flight and the rules clearly state that a hotel night is given when delays exceed 8 hours overnight. Supposing the delay was within the airlines control (i.e. bad weather at YYZ preventing the inbound flight from departing) they would also be covered regardless of frequent flyer status or fare.

Here are the complete things travellers are entitled to in those cases:

MINIMUM AMENITIES

• Access to phone and/or Wi-Fi and/or other means of communication and/or provide information about communication access;
• Meals and/or refreshments when delay exceeds two hours;
• Hotel accommodation for more than 8h delays if it occurs in overnight period;
• Ground transportation between airport/hotel/airport must be provided upon customer request;
• For those customers who decline airport accommodations, carrier should provide ground transportation options to allow customers to travel to/from their residence if within 80 km from the airport, or provide ground transportation compensation fee.

This is above and beyond the EU regulations which require compensation when the IRROP is outside the airlines control. In this case I would recommend writing to the airline directly since the people you spoke to were probably Canadian and unaware of the international rules regarding IRROPs. You may also want to look at firms that do the legwork for you.

Safe Travels,

James