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.
Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, for the first time last week, saying police needed extra help to end protests against COVID-19 restrictions that had occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks and spread to key Canada-U.S. border crossings.
Today’s funding announcement comes after The Canadian Press reported earlier this month that the government was poised to lose hundreds of temporary staff next month.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday that Canada will deploy an additional 460 Canadian troops to help NATO in its standoff with Russia, including an artillery unit, a naval frigate and a surveillance aircraft.
Hudson's Bay Co. and its partner RioCan Real Estate Trust announced the plans Wednesday, saying the Bay store will remain at the site downtown along with other retail businesses as part of the redevelopment.
A fire ecologist says new provincial funding to expand the BC Wildfire Service to a year-round endeavour is a welcome step toward preventing disasters, while others in the field say the funds could be better spent elsewhere.
