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.
Retired master corporal Amy Green said she was shocked when she discovered she had been sent names, email addresses and claim numbers, which she said is enough information to access certain parts of a claimant’s file.
The area surrounding the scene will be cordoned off for a significant amount of time. 224 Street is currently closed between 16th and 24th Avenues. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has been called and will be working in partnership with Langley RCMP.
Forty-three per cent of Canadians surveyed by Leger identified their feelings about the current state of the pandemic as "prudent" — the most popular answer of four options — saying they did not want to lift restrictions too quickly.
The male victim has succumbed to his injuries and the investigation has been turned over to Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT). Any further inquiries regarding this investigation will be handled by IHIT.
Ottawa police said Thursday that a dozen trucks left an area outside the downtown core after negotiations with protesters who have used the parking lot there as a staging and logistics ground. Ten more trucks left streets near Parliament Hill, and another vehicle was towed for obstructing traffic.
There are 21,974 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 310,533 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 893 COVID-positive individuals are in hospital and 143 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation
