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.
All 176 people on board died, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents, along with nationals of Britain, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Sweden.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is "continuing to do more than our share" on vaccine donations but because no vaccines are yet made in Canada, there is not much the country can do to speed up donations.
Those who own and live in their homes in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Capital Regional districts are eligible for the $570 basic grant, or up to $845 for those with a disability or who are 65 and older.
On Tuesday, Jan 3,2022 shortly before 8:30 a.m., frontline Richmond RCMP officers responded to Richmond General Hospital for a report of a man suffering from injuries consistent with a shooting. The man was able to receive emergency medical assistance.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is ramping up delivery of rapid tests to the provinces as tests run scarce across the country and access to molecular tests is restricted.
Several centimetres of slushy snow snarled Tuesday afternoon's rush hour across the south coast but that won't compare with the 10 to 30 centimetres of snow Environment Canada says will blanket southern B.C. on Wednesday night before easing Thursday.
