TORONTO: The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) is appearing today, May 12, at the Ontario Court of Appeal as an intervenor in a novel civil forfeiture case.
The case, AG (Ontario) v 947014 Ontario and Norwood Estate (Norwood Estate) involves the scope of the Ontario Civil Remedies Act. This is legislation that governs the seizure and forfeiture of assets suspected and determined to be proceeds of crime.
Norwood Estate involves assets, including a family home, that were seized as part of a drug trafficking prosecution where the accused later died before his trial. The Application for the forfeiture of the family home did not proceed, and a determination of whether the home was the proceeds of crime was never concluded. Despite this, court relied upon a provision of the Civil Remedies Actto approve a forced settlement between the deceasedâs estate and his mother, who alleges to have a claim to a portion of the home.