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.
Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said Highway 3 is likely to be the quickest route to reopen, possibly by the end of the weekend, but damage to Highway 1 and the Coquihalla Highway is so extreme that geotechnical assessments won't be possible until conditions are drier.
Jima Cannabis says it closed its Abbotsford location after floods began encroaching on the plaza where the store is located and buried a nearby highway under water earlier this week.
An evacuation order was issued for about 1,000 properties in the Sumas Prairie area Tuesday when a severe weekend rainstorm pushed up water levels in the area that is home to many large dairy and poultry farms and other agricultural operations.
On June 4, 2021, a large amount of cash was located in a box of clothing donated to a thrift store in the 6900 block of King George Boulevard and subsequently turned into the Surrey RCMP. It is believed that the box was donated between May 30, 2021 and June 2, 2021.
The head of the union representing Veterans Affairs Canada case managers is warning her members are near their “breaking point” thanks to an excessive amount of work and lack of support from higher ups.
There are currently 3,568 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 207,275 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 376 individuals are currently in hospital and 107 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
