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.
Canadians might not be known as fervent flag wavers like their U.S. neighbours, but the Maple Leaf’s display at protests on Parliament Hill and at border crossings has given some people pause, said Carmen Celestini, a post-doctoral fellow with the Disinformation Project at Simon Fraser University's school of communication in Burnaby, B.C.
An outstanding description of the male was given by the victim, leading to the man being identified. Toluwanimi Alausa was arrested and a Sexual Assault charge has been approved.
There are 762 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 121 are in intensive care. In the past 24 hours, 11 new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,777.
The civil suit filed in B.C. Supreme Court says members of the class-action had convictions, charges or police interactions related to sex work before the Supreme Court of Canada struck down key prostitution laws in 2013.
Police earlier this week charged 13 people from the Coutts protest with possession of weapons and mischief to property, including four who face counts of conspiracy to murder RCMP officers.
