TORONTO — The Ontario government is examining a new legal tool that would let authorities freeze and seize homes, vehicles, and other assets when owners cannot explain how they paid for them.The Ministry of the Attorney General launched a public consultation this month on unexplained wealth orders. Submissions close August 31. If adopted, a court could issue an order requiring the owner of suspicious property to prove the money used to buy it came from legitimate income. Failure to do so could lead to forfeiture.British Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia already use similar orders. Saskatchewan has a comparable measure. Last year B.C. recovered $20.15 million through civil forfeiture while Ontario recovered only $1.6 million.Jeffrey Simser, a former director of civil forfeiture at Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, said to The Globe and Mail it is “well past time” for the province to adopt the tool and called it “necessary.” He warned that passing the law alone will not be enough. “The Attorney-General is going to have to make sure that he puts the right team together to make this work,” Simser said..In one B.C. case last year, a court granted an unexplained wealth order against a Malta resident accused in a multimillion-dollar stock scheme and ordered him to explain millions of dollars held in a Vancouver lawyer’s trust account.Supporters say the orders would disrupt money laundering and organized crime by making it harder to hide dirty money in real estate or vehicles. They argue it would lower the taxpayer cost of chasing complex financial crimes.Critics warn the orders reverse the presumption of innocence. Owners would have to prove their money was clean rather than the Crown proving it was dirty. Rural property owners and small-business families could face extra scrutiny if they cannot quickly produce old bank records.Whether Ontario proceeds will depend on the consultation results and how tightly the legislation is written to protect ordinary taxpayers while targeting genuine criminal wealth.
