In JGB Collateral v. Rochon (Ont CA, 2020) the Court of Appeal describes available proceedings for a farm debtor under the federal Farm Debt Mediation Act:
[1] Ten days after the court allowed the respondent’s appeal and granted summary judgment to the respondent, authorizing it to enforce its mortgage and have the property at issue sold, the moving party Donna Rochon advised the respondent, for the first time, that she is a farmer for the purposes of the Farm Debt Mediation Act, S. C. 1997, c. 21 (“the FDMA”).
[2] Under s. 21 of the FDMA, a secured creditor is required to give a statutory notice to a farmer engaged in farming for commercial purposes prior to enforcing a security interest against the farmer’s property, advising the farmer of the right to make an application under s. 5 of the FDMA. Section 5 of the FDMA allows a farmer (as defined in the FDMA) to apply to an administrator for a stay of proceedings by its creditors and a mediation among those creditors, or a review of the farmer’s financial affairs and a mediation among the farmer’s secured creditors. If the secured creditor does not give notice under s. 21, the steps taken by the secured creditor to enforce its security are “null and void”.
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