Can an Ontario court grant a Mareva injunction that freezes assets outside Canada?

Yes, in appropriate cases an Ontario court can grant a Mareva injunction with worldwide scope, extending beyond assets located in Ontario or even Canada, though this is treated as an even more extraordinary step than a domestic asset freeze and courts apply extra caution before granting one. A worldwide order is generally reserved for situations where the defendant's assets are genuinely spread across multiple jurisdictions and a purely domestic freeze wouldn't meaningfully protect the plaintiff, such as claims involving international fraud or a defendant who has been actively moving money offshore.

Practical enforceability is a real limitation, though - an Ontario court's order doesn't automatically bind foreign banks or foreign courts, so a worldwide Mareva injunction typically needs to be recognized and enforced in each relevant foreign jurisdiction to actually have teeth there, which adds real cost and complexity. Courts granting worldwide relief also often build in specific protections for third parties abroad and for the defendant, given how much broader the order's reach is. Because of this added complexity, a worldwide Mareva application generally requires more detailed evidence about the international asset picture than a purely domestic one.