Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Feb, 2022 01:15 PM
An Ontario court has extended to March 9 a freezing order on funds donated to the recent Ottawa convoy protest, as a class-action civil suit against protest organizers continues.
Parties in the case have agreed to move some donated funds and cryptocurrency into escrow, which could be redistributed to affected Ottawa residents and business owners should the class action succeed.
Norman Groot, a lawyer representing some convoy protest leaders, says ChristopherGarrah, Benjamin Dichter and Nicholas St. Louis have agreed in principle to moving donated funds within their control to an escrow account.
Groot notes the funds that Garrah, Dichter and St. Louis have agreed to move to escrow might not account for all the cryptocurrency that was donated, and he proposed parties meet next week to take stock of what has been transferred.
An escrow agent will oversee the transferred funds, and will be permitted to change the passwords for cryptocurrency.
The class-action lawsuit seeks a total of $306 million in damages related to the three-week anti-government convoy protest near Parliament Hill that snarled traffic, shut businesses and plagued residents with near-constant honking.
There are 3,132 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 210,070 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 337 individuals are in hospital and 115 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday his party intends to request an emergency debate as soon as possible to get a handle on the government's plans to combat the climate change emergency but also on the need to better prepare Canadian communities for the extreme weather they can expect to see in the months and years to come.
Amber Bracken was released on the condition that she appear in court in February and that she comply with the terms of the injunction order first granted to Coastal GasLink by the same judge in December 2019.
Terry Teegee, regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, said the province could have acted faster after a heat dome this summer claimed nearly 600 lives and a wildfire destroyed much of the town of Lytton in the Fraser Canyon.
The five victims, all men from Surrey and Langley, suffered a variety of stab wounds, including injuries to their faces, stomachs, backs, and legs. The injuries are not life-threatening. Two suspects in their 30s, also men from Surrey, have been identified but are not currently in custody.
Selina Robinson says the province will factor in the cleanup costs associated with the disastrous floods and mudslides that hit communities, highways and railways in February's budget.
