SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, CANMORE DEMONSTRATION CANCELLED — I just got word from OutragedCanadian:
I highly recommend that you don’t try driving to Canmore tomorrow morning. Roads were not good this evening, and it’s still snowing like crazy on the highway. Very slick and not good vision.
IRSCompliantForever said Any possibility of a few “no to FATCA” signs outside the Oct 31- Nov 2 Conservative Convention in Calgary?
Also, does anyone know of any delegate who might be willing to ask an anti-FATCA question or try to obtain support at the convention for an anti-FATCA policy? There will be sessions on taxation, constitution, and policies. Going to Calgary for the Tory Convention — Know Anyone Who Is?
The Conservative Convention takes place at the BMO Centre on the Stampede Grounds, private property, so we cannot get up close and personal with delegates.
(I will have FATCA Facts and Q-121 hand-outs — and more will be in my car which will be parked as close to where we’ll be. And now, in fact, I have tons left — I had printed too many!)
FRIDAY EVENING UPDATE:
Friday, November 1: 10:00 a.m. See summary of the day below, Comment re Friday Two-Women FATCA Protest, Calgary, AB. A worthwhile day for two, at the end, frozen-through gals with a message.
Saturday, November 2: As there is no one who able to help out tomorrow, I am not going out — there is a heavy snowfall warning for Calgary. If road conditions are reasonable on Sunday morning, I’ll drive to Canmore to stand with Outraged — the Conservatives visiting Canmore will say — “There they are again — those two FATCA ladies. We’re being stalked.”
calgary411 says
October 23, 2013 at 4:34 pm
I’m game if I am not alone. Who is in or near Calgary?
Proviso: I am a 70-year old Canadian “grandma” who objects. I have a physical constraint so need company of others from Calgary who will stand up to the US. If there are those who will join me, I will look into permit required, details: how far away we need to be from BMO Centre on Calgary Stampede grounds, print hand-outs.
October 23, 2013 at 8:24 pm
WhiteKat says:
@Calgary,
Another protest, this time in Calgary, is a great idea. We need to show the government that we are everywhere, not just in Ottawa, and that we are not going to stop putting the pressure on. Perhaps you could create a separate post inviting people to join, otherwise your suggestion will get lost in the comments.
I agree, two is enough to make a difference!
@Calgary411, Bless your heart! Sorry it was so cold for you, but it sure sounds like you meet a lot of people.
Thank you so much!
@ calgary411, if you are still up maybe you could use a little laugh. I just checked the Calgary forecast for tomorrow. It looks good but I know what those highrise canyons are like. Brrrrrr!
Around 9pm tonight my husband and I took a brief break from our front door Hallowe’en vigil to get a bite to eat. I didn’t want to miss any trick or treaters so I put a package of treats out on the front deck for the kids to help themselves. My husband got back to the front door first, only to startled by a deer leaping off the deck. It had apparently thought it would help itself to some Hallowe’en treats too. I think we may be the only ones in town to have a trick or treat deer visit this evening. 🙂
@Em
That is wild. Would have been so cool if you took a picture.
@Calgary411
Just catching up on all your activities and reporting. Thanks for being the sole match to lite the kindling in Calgary. Given the weather, lets hopes it starts a Blaze…
Next time a Reporter wants a sound bite on FATCA, just say, Fear And Terror Caused by Americans, or use Blazes standard Foreign Attack To Control All. Then smile, and say, “so do you want some real information, if not, just print that!” 🙂
@Calgary: You rock!
Maybe you and Outraged would get attention of media and delegates if you disguise yourselves as Wallin and Duffy. No. You would have to gain too much weight and shave your head to do Duffy.
Any chance any Raging Grannies would join our cause?
@ Calgary,
Really super! Thanks so much for all you did!
@ Calgary411
Yes, try to find out if raging grannies would be interested in joining our cause.
I want to know what signs you have and what they say. Going to start working on mine. Would putting on sticks be better or wearing like a sandwich board be better?. Not wood to wear but strong paper. Thought of getting them done professionally. Since we now have 3 protests, 2 ottawa and now Calgary perhaps it is time to start to analyze what signs and flyers attract people. We should get a better idea after today and Canmore. Found this interesting inspirational pop up today.
“If you don’t step across the threshold of what you already know into the world of challenges, you never truly measure your self.”
Muriel Hemingway
Keep warm Calgary411. Alert the world what is wrong with FATCA.
Wonderful, Calgary411! Every person we educate is a potential asset! I’m getting my gear ready (including WARM clothes) before heading out to Calgary.
I’ll talk to you in person about the Canmore protest, but after doing some digging, I’m actually thinking we should hit 3 locations – the Iron Goat restaurant, where they’ll be having lunch (lunch is set for noon, so maybe set up at 11:30 or so, so that we’re there when the bus goes by). There is a spot there, I think, that they won’t be able to avoid seeing our signs. Then maybe follow them down to the new brewery (which is not on main street), and display our signs there again. Lastly, hitting main street – so that we can hopefully garner some interest and get people asking questions.
Looking forward to see you again – in a couple of hours!
Drive safely, Outraged.
It IS, from my experience yesterday, better for you to take the train! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!
I love people who give tricks and treats to deer! LOL.
If we alert even one family, it is worth it!!!
Thanks, Blaze!
Raging Grannies are awesome — actually a wonderful singing group and that’s what they were doing there — wish I could send a picture of them. That is what they did there. I will give them some material to work with.
Hi, Just Me.
Thanks. Outraged Canadian is on her way in from Canmore to help out today, about an hour’s drive away and then taking the train to the location we’ll mostly be at. We are, of course, not the only presence here — so our message will be diluted and mixed in with all the other protest for the Canadian Conservative Government. Hopefully, itacaf will be able to find us. (YogaGirl will not be able to — was going to be coming from a LONG way; BornInCanada will have difficulty making it.)
I will have the other definitions on the back of my sign so they are readily available, better on the tip of my tongue.
Thanks everyone for your support!
@Calgary411 and Outraged
If you alert more people it will have he ripple effect..
I was just thinking of those American persons who have no idea of FATCA and how much it will transform their lives…The politicians should better than “well, you should have known”. Not good enough
Be the ghosts of present in Canmore….Let them know that they can not avoid Brockers and our message.
Keep warm, Keep Safe and Create big ripples that will become a big wave. maybe a tsunami.
I encourage everyone to listen to the link now posted at the top of http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/09/13/media-opportunity-recruiting-panelists-for-fsn-round-table/. It very well points this out, northerstar, and more.
Outraged Canadian thank you too! You girls are awesome! I’m so proud of you for doing this!
My mini-protest (more like a meet up) at my MP’s office went pretty well today. My Conservative MP, of course, was not there (the Calgary Convention) but I spoke with his assistant. After I introduced myself and said I was from another small town (100 kms away) I said, ” You won’t remember me but I spoke with you way back in 2009 about a worrisome change I had noted in the FBAR form.” (I think I accidentally said FuBAR — didn’t mean to.) She nodded and said, “Actually I do remember you. You sent me a blank copy of that form.” Now that was a bit of a shock but our chat went very easy after that. She really is a very nice person.
I went on to tell her that things are worse than FBAR now because of the U.S. legislation called FATCA. She knew about FATCA and said the office had heard from many people worried about it. I told her about how FATCA affected my husband and me (normal financial planning almost impossible; my anger that, as a Canadian, some of my financial details were being swept up by a foreign government; the constant worry; and so forth ). I also described the situation of others (mentioned calgary411’s situation in general terms).
I told her about how difficult it was to get information from the IRS (described that in one of my attempts my call was passed from place to place until I ended up speaking to a very nice young man at the warehouse where they store the IRS forms). I told her how I was so grateful to have found the Isaac Brock site because it was filled with valuable information. Also, since I live in a small town there are no accountants available who are familiar with filing U.S. taxes.
I then gave her some fact sheets which I said she was welcome to give out to anyone she might encounter who needed more information about FATCA. I also gave her two letters to pass along to my MP which had Dr. Hsu’s questions and Mr. Brison’s questions listed. I said that we know we have the Green Party, the NDP and now the Liberals on our side and that I hoped the Conservative Party was too. I said the only thing that I thought was missing from the questions was my huge concern that this data being transmitted electronically was not secure and that I knew the U.S.A. had a crappy record in that regard (yep, I said crappy) PLUS the IRS would pass along this data to other U.S. agencies like the NSA, FBI, CIA, etc.
Afterwards I thought I should have suggested that the Canadian government fast track Canadian citizenships for Americans, in light of this threat to them by FATCA. But I didn’t think about it at the time. It was quite an experience for a fairly shy person like me to speak about FATCA (writing is a ton easier) but I think I did okay.
One more thing. She tried to say that Canada had no control over the laws passed by the U.S.A. but I quickly said that the whole point is that FATCA is a U.S. law and this is Canada. There were a few other things but I think I got most of it down here. Now I get to kick back and listen to the FSN podcast.
Thanks for your mini-protest / meet-up at the office of your MP. It sounds like you did a more than thorough job of bringing his assistant up to date. I’m glad you were doing it at the same time OutragedCanadian and I were on the corner of 12th Ave. SE and Macleod Trail for five hours in a very effective day ourselves.
We were located at a crosswalk where delegates were arriving (and leaving) BMO Centre on the Stampede Grounds during the day. Most did look at our signs, many avoiding coming in our direction but waiting for another light (OutragedCanadian will have a couple pictures taken, which I will add.) We really appreciated the many delegates who did come by and ask “What is FATCA.” The ones who did were very interested, got the handouts and said they would read them and discuss with others. I believe only one of the delegates actually knew what FATCA was — [and he mentioned looking into something called a non-SIFT trust, if I remember correctly? Does anyone know anything about what that would be and how it would apply to any of this?] Members of the Calgary Police Service, who were not in short supply, came by often and wanted to know about FATCA as well. One police officer mentioned that the police had to go to court to be able to get anyone’s banking information — how could the US IRS do this? They took good care of us — as they didn’t have any other demonstrations going on around the Stampede Grounds today, even advising not to go through downtown on our way home as there had been a second today LRT (light rail transit) accident and traffic was really backed up. It astounds me how many people I’ve talked to in the past couple of days have someone in their family that was born in the US or born to US parent(s).
Besides no other demonstrations taking place where we were, there was no media presence today. There were some information sessions going on at the Calgary Main Public Library and Olympic Plaza. I heard only a short blurb about demonstrations on CBC this morning — a real sound byte. Outraged and I came to the conclusion that today was the better day of the two since we weren’t with others protesting re other subjects, which yesterday diluted my Fight FATCA cause. Today, it was just two women who didn’t look too threatening on a street corner, with these FATCA signs — and many felt comfortable enough to approach us to find out what this was about. We got many thank you’s for taking our time to be present for something we believed in. A lot of people who didn’t stop, if nothing else, saw that word, FATCA, and it now resides in their subconscious, ready to come forward when they next see or hear the word.
There’s a heavy snowfall warning for Calgary for tomorrow. Since I have had no others that will be able to help me tomorrow, I have decided not to go out. Unless that snowfall continues into Sunday and the TransCanada Highway to Canmore is not in good driving condition, I’ll be in Canmore just before noon to stand and be visible to Conservatives — with OutragedCandian who took a day off work today to come in to make my sole protest a two-woman one. I really enjoyed my day of protest with her!
It is the consensus of two that it was very worthwhile.
I’m so proud of Em, Calgary411 and OutragedCanadian. You are made of the right stuff and proud to call you fellow Canadians!
I was listening to Jian Ghomeshi interview the two founders of Roots, which is having its 40th anniversary. Did you know they are from the US, moved here in the 70’s? They’ve both recently made the decision to become Canadian citizens. Jian asked them why would they both do so at this time. What they said sounded less important to me than how they said it (in fact I only vaguely recollect what they said – something like they felt it was the right thing to do), but I felt like we weren’t getting the whole picture. Their names are Michael Budman and Don Green. We should watch for them on the name-and-shame-list.
Make that a consensus of two plus one distant third. Calgary411 and OutragedCanadian had a very worthwhile protest. Amazing how many don’t know about FATCA. Seems to me there could be more than a big angry wave building against FATCA. There could well be a tsunami when the word really spreads out. Mosquitoes and ripples — keep buzzing, keep breaking the water surface.
Thanks so much for what the three of you did today, and for sharing your experiences with the rest of us. You’re an inspiration to us all.
We may each individually be mosquitoes or butterflies, but remember what chaos theory says about the butterfly who flapped its wings in the Amazon … You never know where the ripples might go, and when the eddies become a tsunami or a hurricane.
You two are so cool (literally!) Way to go!
Even mosquitoes hibernate in cold weather (or go dormant–I don’t know what the scientific term is). Yet, the two of you were out there buzzing away today.
You deserve a day off tomorrow. What you have done is amazing!
Sounds like a lot of good contacts and info exchanging.
If anyone is interested, the media are being actively limited (and in some cases barred) from this convention. They are being kept from the delegates as much as possible.
The hashtag on Twitter the media is using: #CPC13 in case anyone wants to get some attention that way.
Great work, Calgary411!!
Thanks, YogaGirl. And, thanks to Outraged Canadian for fitting hanging out with me into her busy schedule. We would have loved to have you here too, but the even longer distance you would have had to travel would be way too much.
It seems like the media are often led around by the ring in their noses. They certainly have not done the FATCA story justice, which is something we’d all like to see changed. I wonder if they are visiting with any of the delegates on street corners of Calgary?
Em and Calgary thank you for the updates! It’s so good to read them and see the face to face contact reports you are giving here. I do believe they make a huge impact. Great job!