Actors in the legal cannabis industry have filed a class action lawsuit against Canadian banks accused of discriminating against them financially.
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The class action was launched by the law firm of the SGF group – Advisors and consultants in cannabis on behalf of the president of Origami Extraction, Gabriel Bélanger, according to a press release from the law office.
It is the entrepreneur Gabriel Bélanger who is behind this lawsuit, which includes all those who have been involved in the legal cannabis industry since October 17, 2018 and who do business with these offending banking institutions.
The banks targeted by the class action are the Fédération des Caisses Desjardins, the National Bank, the Royal Bank, the Bank of Montreal, the TD Bank, and the CIBC, said the law firm.
Mr. Bélanger criticizes these banks for the refusal to open bank accounts, the untimely closing of current bank accounts and the refusal of access to financial tools such as mortgage loans and lines of credit to businesses in the cannabis.
“Canadian banks have been treating the cannabis industry like pariahs for far too long, as if all of this was still completely illegal,” reacted Friday Maxime Guérin, lawyer for the SGF Group and cannabis consultant.