Angry in the Great White North

As part of the investigation into allegations of mistreatment of nannies by the family of Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, The Toronto Star published original handwritten documenation provided by the Ruby Dhalla's lawyer at the time, John Kalina.

According to the account given by nanny Magdalene Gordo, Ruby Dhalla's mother Tavinder met Gordo at a McDonald's to settle the accounts:

Gordo, who said she was owed money after she quit, claims Ruby Dhalla called and said she would pay if the nanny signed a letter saying she was well treated and properly paid. Gordo refused. Later, Gordo said she met Dhalla's mother, Tavinder, at a McDonald's and was handed $400 cash.

Here is the receipt written at that meeting:

We'll take that as a sample Tavinder Dhalla's handwriting.

The same handwriting appears on most of the receipts that were provided to nanny Richelyn Tongson:

One receipt seems to have been written in a different style.  We'll call the author of this receipt Person #2:

Notice how the capital "T" in Tavinder is rendered in an entirely different manner than the capital "T" in the McDonald's note and in the other three receipts.  There are other differences.

As an aside, some of the receipts have the address blanked out, some do not.  Matching up the descenders that sneak out under the masking rectangles, I think all the receipts are for the Dhalla residence.  I can't explain why some receipts would mask that information while others do not.

Another interesting sample is the writing that appears on Richelyn Tongson's two notes regarding the holding of her passport.

The first note allegedly provides permission to Dr Neil Dhalla to hold the passport:

The second note documents the return of the passport of Tongson:

Clearly both passport notes were written by the same person (note the distinctive way the capital "I" is written).  Again comparing these notes, it would look like these two notes were written by Tavinder Dhalla.  In particular, the character "2" is distinctive (the little loop at the top of the curve).  See also how "Dhalla" is printed in all these samples -- capital "D" printed, then "h" in cursive, then "a", "l", "l", and "a" printed.  Other characters look the same.  For instance, she seems to write a lower care "r" so that it looks like a "v" -- this appears in all the samples.

That Tavinder Dhalla wrote all these notes is consistent with both what Ruby Dhalla has said (Tavinder Dhalla and brother Neil Dhalla managed the nannies) and with what Richelyn Tongson has alleged, that is, that Tongson was given notes by Tavinder Dhalla to sign:

So who is Person #2?  Based on what we're heard so far, that would be Neil Dhalla.  Ruby Dhalla asserts she had nothing to do with the hiring or management of the nannies.  It seems very similar to the handwriting that appears on this sample of the the Foreign Live-In Caregiver Application submitted by Neil Dhalla, but it's hard to be as certain here:

One more thing.  There is a curious bit of text along the side of the second passport note, the one written by Tavinder Dhalla:

[ONCE?] THEY RECEIVE IT,AB PCKG SENT, LEFT VOICE MAIL FOR SANDRA

This seems to be text left on a sheet of paper used for a fax transmission.  The sheet was then re-used for the second passport note allegedly written by Tavinder Dhalla then signed by Tongson, recording the return of the passport on May 29.

"AB PCKG" likely refers to an "Accident Benefits" package, part of the documentation for work benefits.  As chiropractors, both Neil and Ruby Dhalla likely deal with AB packages quite frequently when dealing with work-related back injuries.  I suppose used fax sheets are lying around the house, or perhaps form a recycle pile.

That's my walkthrough the fax package and the notes.  Conclude from it what you will.