Debt mediation has been delayed in the case of a Canadian potato farmer who has been granted an extension of protection against action by creditors.  Hank Tepper, who runs Tobique Farms in Drummond, a small community in New Brunswick, has been unable to pay his creditors because he is currently incarcerated in a Beirut jail.  In his absence, the family farming operation has fallen on hard times.

Debt Mediation a Key Part of Canadian Foreclosure Process 

Because of action on the part of a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, the Tepper family has protection against creditors until at least September.  While this provides them some breathing room, the family had requested a longer extension that would protect them until October 18^th.  This date would have allowed the family to harvest crops for the season, which would have generated funds that could be paid to creditors.

James Mockler, acting as lawyer for Tobique Farms remarked that "without today's positive decision, a number of things would've happened.  The company would've attempted farm debt mediation ...  but farm debt doesn't offer the same protections that CCAA (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act) does."

Foreclosure mediation is customary in much of Canada. The main creditor in this case is BMO.  The company is owed more than $8 million and believes that the decline of the farm is directly related to Tepper's absence, which has lasted four months so far.