This is unacceptable. The government need to start protecting passengers better. I understand that IROPs happen and when they do the airline might not be able to get them out on the same day. Still, the law should be that if an airline cancels the flight for reasons within their control and they are not able to get you to your destination with 24 hours the airline is required to re-book you on another carrier, failing which the passenger is free to purchase a ticket on another airline at the full walk up fare and obtain a refund from the airline that caused the delay. In this case, no revenue would be lost as they are part of Westjet; the airline would simply be selling a ticket to itself. Last IROP I had was on KLM, on a very cheap intra-Europe ticket; they re-booked me on Air France even though that flight only had very expensive walk up fares.
Also, while I am not a fan of paying compensation ( or duty of care when the flight during uncontrollable IROPs), airlines who cancel flight should be on the hook for hotel and meal expenses for as long as the passenger is stranded. It works in Europe and fares are lower than they are here. In my opinion, this should only apply when the airline is responsible. If in this case, as one post suggest, this was the result of a collision with a truck then the airline is also free to go after whoever is responsible for the collision and recover whatever they paid out. The more expensive you make it for airlines to strand passengers the less likely they will strand passengers, once again just look at Europe: there is so much competition which means airlines aren't raising fares. They chose to manage their operations in a way that they don't have to pay out extra and the passengers come out ahead as you never hear of passengers being stranded for 11 day on EU airlines.