Legal cannabis industry launches major class-action lawsuit against big Canadian banks

Canada’s legal cannabis industry has united against several major Canadian banks, and announced a class-action lawsuit alleging financial discrimination.

The lawsuit was launched on February 7 on behalf of Gabriel Bélanger, founder of Beauce-based cannabis micro-processing company Origami Extraction Inc. Entities targeted include the Desjardins Federation, National Bank, Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank, and CIBC.

The plaintiff alleges that the banks have discriminated against actors in the legal cannabis business by suddenly closing current bank accounts, denying opening accounts, and denying access to financial tools and services such as mortgage loans and credit lines.

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Included in this class action are “all individuals or corporations that, directly or indirectly, do business with the major defendant banks and who are involved in the legal cannabis industry since October 17, 2018,” reads a press release from Groupe SGF, the legal consultants in the case.

“For far too long, Canadian banks have treated the cannabis industry like pariahs, as if it was still completely illegal,” said Groupe SGF lawyer Maxime Guérin in a statement. “By doing so, they are depriving the Canadian, but especially the local economy of developing a promising market.”

The Groupe SGF website states that the class action targets all individuals and businesses that, directly or indirectly, are involved in the legal cannabis industry. This includes licensed producers, distributors of fertilizers, fertilizers or distributors of cultivation equipment that “experienced any difficulties with the Canadian banks concerned.”

Anyone fitting the description above will automatically become part of the target group if they qualify, and need not register.