Beleaguered licensed producer CannTrust Holdings Inc. confirmed today that it had submitted a full report to Health Canada on unlicensed growing activities at its Pelham, Ont. facility, and is awaiting the department’s response which will potentially include additional “compliance and enforcement action.”

“The Company, under the Special Committee’s supervision, is continuing to engage with Health Canada and filed a response to the Health Canada report on July 17, 2019,” said a statement issued by the company Monday morning.

In a statement provided to the Financial Post, Health Canada said that CannTrust submitted their response on July 18, and that the department will “thoroughly review” all information submitted in order to determine the appropriate enforcement action.

“Health Canada’s next steps will be communicated to the licence holder,” the statement read. The department would not state when this process would be completed, or if findings would be made public.

Meanwhile, the Vaughan, Ont.-based producer — which has seen its stock lose 50 per cent of its value since news emerged that it was growing cannabis in five unlicensed rooms between October 2018 and March 2019 — announced the appointment of four members to its special committee that was put together by the board to investigate the company’s non-compliance.

Committee members include American sports executive Robert Marcovitch, who was formerly chief executive of K2 Sports and The Coleman Outdoor Company, as well as Shawna Page, a former executive at TD Securities at Merrill Lynch Canada. Also part of the committee is cannabis investor John Kaden, who owns and manages Navy Capital Green Management LLC, a cannabis-focused investment firm, and Mark Dawber, a former auditor with Moore Stephens Hyde Houghton.

CannTrust’s special committee members have been meeting regularly with the company’s legal counsel, McCarthy Tetrault LLP, according to the company statement.

“Although we want to move as quickly as possible, we are mindful of the critical need to be thorough. We are determined to identify the root causes for all non-compliance issues, to take appropriate actions to address and remediate any issues with the Company’s compliance culture and to restore trust in the Company,” Marcovitch said.

Growing unlicensed cannabis is a criminal offence under the Cannabis Act, though it remains unclear at this point if Health Canada will press charges against those found directly responsible for the unlicensed growing. In an earlier response to the Post, Niagara Region police confirmed that any potential criminal repercussions against CannTrust will be handled by Health Canada and the RCMP.

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