By resurrecting a very old thread I can give you a very old reply:
Back when I was young and foolish (around 50 or so) I had a bag unlovingly processed by AC. Calling the AC "service line" I was informed that they had several Luggage Repair stores under contract who would fix the damage, and luckily the one in downtown TO was less than 2 blocks from where I worked. They did a super job and it didn't cost me a penny.
Later, when flying AC to SAN we had a bag terminally processed , and as AC's onsite rep was United, we showed them the bag and one minute later they came back with 3 brand new bags saying "which one would you like?" - a different approach.
I would suggest at least contacting AC and seeing whether they still use Luggage Repair shops. I can't see the "which one would you like" approach being in AC's repertoire any more.