Whistleblower sheds light on Canntrust
Ex-employee tipped off Health Canada about one of grower’s unlicensed rooms
A former Canntrust Holdings Inc. employee believes that had he not blown the whistle on his former employer, Health Canada would not have discovered that the cannabis producer was growing plants in five unlicensed rooms.
Nick Lalonde, who said he was responsible for the disposal of cannabis at a Pelham, Ont., greenhouse for nearly two years, wrote an email to Health Canada on June 14, detailing how Canntrust was allegedly violating regulations by growing cannabis in an unlicensed room. The company, Lalonde alleged in his email, took extensive measures, such as hanging white poly walls, to hide thousands of cannabis plants from Health Canada. Details of Lalonde’s email and his allegations about the company’s actions were first reported Wednesday by the Globe and Mail.
“If I wouldn’t have sent that email, Canntrust would’ve still been going along, day-to-day, like nothing happened,” Lalonde, 28, said in an interview with the Financial Post on Thursday. “Health Canada would have no knowledge of it. Nobody would have any knowledge of this going on.”
Health Canada visited the greenhouse two days after Lalonde sent the email. Three weeks later, Canntrust announced that Health Canada had put a freeze on 5,200 kilograms of cannabis grown in five unlicensed rooms between October and March and admitted it had provided inaccurate information to regulators.
In the email, which was also obtained by the Financial Post, Lalonde told Health Canada that he had been asked to hang the white poly walls so that a greenhouse room could appear empty in photos the company submitted to have it licensed for growing. Lalonde implored Health Canada to investigate and even suggested how.
“If you look through the camera footage prior to the dates the pictures were taken and requested you will clearly see us hanging up white poly walls to cover up thousands of plants,” he wrote.
A Canntrust spokesperson said the company is “unable to comment on the specific details or the actions of current or former employees.” The company is investigating the regulation breaches internally and “bringing in independent experts to deliver their advice to us about how this happened.”
In an email, Health Canada said it was aware of the allegations about the staged photos but that “it would be inappropriate to comment at this time, while the company has been given an opportunity to respond to the Non-compliant rating during the most recent inspection of their facility in Fenwick, Ont.”
The agency also said that evidence provided as part of applications for expansion can be “verified through on-site inspections which can occur at any time. Inspections may be announced or unannounced to ensure that the license holder or applicant is in compliance with the Cannabis Act and its regulations.”
Lalonde said he and a handful of other employees were directed by their manager to stay late one night sometime before November to help hang the walls, but is uncertain whether the directive came down from higher up in the company. Almost immediately, he became suspicious and asked why they were hanging the walls, he said, and was told that they were for “before and after photos.”
He didn’t buy the story, he said, and after further digging was convinced that Canntrust was breaching regulations.
In November, he decided that he would leave the company, but would need to secure a new job first because of financial struggles. That only happened in May. In the months between, Lalonde said he was panicking, thinking that he could face legal repercussions for his role in putting up the walls.
“To me it was any day Health Canada is going to come in here and see these rooms and we’re all going to get arrested and I’m going to go to jail and I’m going to be screwed for the rest of my life and I’m making $15 an hour doing it,” Lalonde said.
Canntrust’s stock is down 37 per cent since the Health Canada freeze on its products was revealed.