Visual night approach to a big international airport, give me a f.... break.
Seriously.
Given that the procedure in question provides positive course guidance provided to the runway, the same screwup could be just as evident on an ILS.
How far out were they when cleared for this odd, last minute offset visual? To an unfamiliar crew that would be a huge cheese hole, right there, if it's last minute and unbriefed.
The approach is advertised on the ATIS. The ATIS is digital so they could have known for hundreds of miles or even at the departure gate in Canada if so inclined and concerned enough to look. It is tied into the STAR after the approach is line selected (closing the discon, perhaps different on your jet). The instructions from SFO TRACON on initial contact are at ARCHI, join the FMS Bridge routing and only after sighting certain bridges and the airport are they cleared for the approach. From first hand experience, this isn't a particularly challenging procedure to fly having done so numerous times and the routing drops you exactly on CL with VNAV all the way down. AC aren't infrequent visitors to SFO either.