[We now have a NEW POST taking us up to February 1, 2015. This post will be retired from service.]
THE AUTUMN 2014 UPDATE
Dear Donors,
Together, we reached our goal of $100,000 to pay the November 1 legal bill 11 days ahead of schedule!
Thank you Canadian donors from coast to coast and our friends from around the world for your generosity, support and determination — and especially for not being afraid.
The name of our non-profit corporation is the “Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty.”
We were very deliberate in including in our name the word “sovereignty”, which forms a cornerstone of our Claims against the Government of Canada.
Canada and dozens of other countries throughout the world gave into a bully because their “leaders” were afraid of harm caused by a trading “partner” — and they gave their sovereignties away.
Help us convince by example the Leaders and Governments of all countries worldwide that they should return their sovereignties back to their Peoples.
Please continue to support our lawsuit.
“Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” (Helen Keller)
— Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, and the ADCS-ADSC team
Chers donateurs,
Ensemble, nous avons atteint notre but d’amasser 100 000 $ pour payer notre facture légale du 1er novembre 11 jours d’avance !
Un gros merci à vous, donateurs canadiens, et à nos amis de tous les coins du monde pour votre grande générosité, soutien et détermination. Et surtout pour votre courage.
Le nom de notre organisme sans but lucratif est « l’Alliance pour la défense de la souveraineté canadienne ».
Nous avons choisi délibérément le mot « souveraineté » puisqu’il constitue la base fondamentale de nos revendications envers le gouvernement du Canada.
Le Canada et des dizaines d’autres pays se sont pliés devant l’intimidation des États-Unis parce que leurs « leaders » ont eu peur des menaces de notre « partenaire » commercial. Ils ont donc vendu leur souveraineté à rabais.
Aidez-nous à convaincre les dirigeants et les gouvernements de tous ces pays qu’ils se doivent de remettre leur souveraineté à leurs peuples.
S’il vous plaît, continuez à soutenir notre cause.
« Seuls, nous pouvons faire si peu. Ensemble, nous pouvons faire beaucoup. » (Helen Keller)
— Ginny, Gwen et toute l’équipe de l’ADCS-ADSC
DONATE to www.adcs-adsc.ca (ADSC en français).
Congratulations are certainly in order for ADCS-ADSC for this important milestone! I look forward to seeing the timelines for costs going forward and will plan my future giving to this effort accordingly.
Another donation to ADSC will be sent next week.
Its also time to get Jim Bopp moving on this South of the border. I just need to know where to donate.
It will be interesting to see what Robert Stack, the paid liar that he is, will say when his beloved FATCA and CBT are under siege from multiple lawsuits launched and paid for by the people he referred to as being nothing more than “myths.”
Great news. I thought my Con MP should be the first to know and tweeted him accordingly.
re Jim Bopp–I got a reply to my earlier question on Jim Bopp but am still unclear as to whether the Jim Bopp lawsuit is the same as Solomon Yue’s effort with Republicans Overseas. The legal front on this stateside seems much quieter than in Canada so far and I’m hoping we can change chat. There has not been much news on a possible lawsuit in the USA for some time now.
I know you have all worked very, very hard to get this far. Thanks for a job well done. “See you in court!”
My contact for donations to legal action south of the border is Solomon Yue, solomon@fatcalegalaction.com, but those folks have grown quiet lately.
Unless the litigation and ADCS board have a compelling strategic reason not to do so, I for one would like to know how many individuals have made contributions to date. I’m not especially interested in the total raised so far, but I am curious to know how many people have contributed something to this effort.
There are estimates of a million people in Canada affected by this violation of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Realistically, even if that number is accurate (which according to what I’ve read about Census records it may not be), maybe 300,000 or so could be expected to contribute something — after subtracting people who are still unaware, are children living at home, students on a very limited budget, people who are unemployed or on restricted retirement incomes, etc. If all of those estimated 300,000 folks gave even $10 each on average, ADCS would have $3 million which should cover the costs, I’d hope. Or if 30,000 gave an average of $100. (That’s arguably only 10% of affected Canadians who could very reasonably expected to find $100 in their budgets on average, I’d have thought.) I’d hope we could do better than that, but even that rate of giving among that many people would likely pay for this, or go a very long way toward doing so.
I hope there aren’t folks out there sitting on their wallets and hoping/expecting that someone else is going to pay for this. If most people think that way, this isn’t going to fly. And why should a small minority bear the burden for the vast majority, if that’s what’s happening?
Think about it, if you haven’t contributed yet. What are you waiting for? If you’re worried about anonymity, just postal-mail a personal cheque to Stephen Kish at the address give on the ADCS website. Stephen isn’t going to “out” you, Canada Post isn’t going to steam open Stephen’s mail, and there’s no way CRA or IRS can possibly track down donors of personal cheques through the banking system even if they wanted to — the technological, staff and budgetary implications for that just don’t exist for either of those agencies (or the banks AFAIK) given staffing and budget levels. At least not as far as I can tell (and I worked with, though not in, IT in the Government of Canada for a number of projects for a number of years before I retired, and I’ve kept current enough on technology to be reasonably confident of the opinion I just expressed).
And if you’re so terrified you won’t even write a cheque, well personally I think you need some professional medical help. That would be carrying paranoia several bridges too far IMO.
And yes I have contributed as I am able, both to the legal opinion fund and more recently to the ADCS fund. And I’m not a US person and my accounts are not reportable under FATCA, nor is my wife nor her accounts. So I could easily convince myself this isn’t my battle and I needn’t contribute to it … but that isn’t me. So far, anyway.
@Dash
I just wrote him for an update at: solomon@grassfiregroup.com
The IGA is good for our family. The possibly American half has a substantial RRSP that won’t be reported
In spite of that , we are supporting the challenge and will continue to do so. FATCA is an abomination. John Weston, the Cons, the banks and their buds are toadies. The irony is that when we win we will be doing the US a favour.
@charl
Solomon’s grassfiregroup.com email address was bouncing as of a few weeks ago. The fatcalegalaction.com email address was working but the website is still just a stub, and there haven’t been any updates posted on the “Republicans Overseas” facebook page or anywhere else that I know for awhile now.
repealfatca.com is active but the news there is not lawsuit-related.
Dash, Joe, and Charl,
Jim Bopp will be the litigator for the the Solomon Yue – “Republicans Overseas Action, Inc.” lawsuit.
Next week I will be in Chicago for a meeting with Republicans Overseas and will get an update on their efforts. RO may be quiet publicly for the moment, but they (like us) are very serious in litigating against FATCA.
@Stephen Kish, thanks for the update from the South. The strategy by default is a pincer motion.
I praise God for the news update on ADCS and will send another contribution when the clock strikes August.
As most know, I am not Canadian but my heart in is this 110%. The road to victory in my home country runs through Canada.
James Bopp’s efforts are also progressing, it seems they are about half the way there and they are very very motivated and enthused. They are indeed looking for supporters in this first phase and will soon open up some time of pay portal for a broad based (and smaller amount) soon. Look on their Reps overseas facebook page for their contacts.
One of the confirmations of their approach are the analyses of Allison Christians which confirm their research.
There is also a lot of background support of the lawsuit as the quantity of executive over-reach is very much in the news.
There are a number of people who have gone out of their way in order to acquire information as to how to contribute.
2 fronts on this issue are impressive.
Schubert,
It will likely be a small group of committed people (Canadians and their international friends) –like all of you above in this post– who will make this lawsuit happen.
Surgite!
Like Schubert I would love to know how many have contributed so far but this update is really what I’ve been waiting to hear. My CPP/OAS cheques arrived yesterday, I’m depositing them today, so tomorrow or Friday I will be able to mail Twig#3. (Perfect timing on this update, Stephen.) It really is amazing how much was contributed in such a very short period of time. Now Joseph Arvay is officially engaged and John Richardson is interfaced. YAY! This truly is great news.
It would be easy for the safely CLN’d and completely compliant ones to shrug and let the worried ones do the donating but Schubert has shown that this is not the case. Thank you Schubert and thank you to everyone who is donating not necessarily because you are particularly threatened but because you believe this is a just cause and ADCS deserves your support. We know that might does not make right but this is our chance to show right can challenge might — AND WIN!
@ Lynne-Blaze
If you are peeking in, I’m sure you are smiling but please do NOT do a happy dance … yet. We want you to be very careful, to heal completely and to come back rested in September to continue the journey to justice which was so painfully interrupted by inadvertently doing that Humpty-Dumpty thing.
@Stephen, for those of us not acquainted with lawyer’s vocabulary, could you explain what retain means? I thought he was retained a long time ago 🙂
Does that mean that the lawsuit can actually start. Is there going to be some big news release about it? What is the timeline for what’s going to happen next?
This is great news!
I’ve been “CLN’d”, and I have felt horribly guilty reading here each day, not having been able to donate to this point. I am hoping to be able to make a nice donation before the end of the year.
Thank you to all of you for your donations, and thank you to all who continue to work on our behalf.
@noone
I’m not a lawyer but my understanding is that when a lawyer is “retained” one or more of the following things happen:
–Some money (a “retainer”) changes hands to allow the case to begin. The retainer is not necessarily large enough to cover all costs of the case from beginning to end (it seems clear in this case it is not) but it is enough to get things going.
–The lawyer makes a formal commitment to begin work on the case.
–A formal attorney-client relationship is created.
When the lawyer is retained it marks the end of just talking about or consulting on the case and the beginning of work in earnest on the case.
@noone
I believe his formal legal opinion was sought some time ago but that was without commitment–on either side–for him to provide legal representation in the case itself.
@ Stephen
This is GREAT news.
Historic really.
Thank you and all other members of the ADCS board and committees and website for making this real. Your diligence and perseverance have paid off!
Thrilled our contributions have enabled this critical hurdle. I’ll continue to contribute.
Hiring Joe Arvay is big news. Let’s lobby our media and political contacts to get this the attention it deserves.
Reminder of that movie “Field of Dreams” – “Build it… and they will come.”
Now that litigation is moving forward, a groundswell of awareness and support will make this growing movement. Hopefully, many others – including MPs of opposition parties – will join as plaintiffs.
Stephen,
I’m glad you have finally been able to make this announcement. As you said from the start, it is not for the feint of heart. The even harder work now begins in raising the funds needed to uphold Canadian Charter Rights for *US Persons in Canada*. My hope is that our Challenge will spur similar action in other countries.
Thank you for being the good communicator you are and for your part in negotiations to get this far. You know the value of letting us all know the status as anything changes.
My respect!
Carol
Dash, you are correct on all points:
Money has now been provided to Mr. Arvay as a retainer, there is a formal attorney client-relationship, and Mr. Arvay has made the commitment to begin. In fact, we are already sorting out plaintiff possibilities.
People, if you have ANY interest in being a plaintiff, let me know NOW. We want to move quickly on this lawsuit.
Noone, in my opinion the newsworthy event happens when the papers are are first filed in court. I cannot give you a time frame on this.
What’s involved with being a plaintiff? It’s my understanding that more are needed. It would help to know what commitments a plaintiff must make.
@Shubert1975
I agree with Shubert’s comments. This has moved forward mostly enabled by repeated and personally substantial and significant contributions from a relatively small group of people.
It’s essential to leverage the profile to motivate a “crowd-sourcing” approach where thousands of people make small contributions that add up.
To do so, this must be packaged as more than defending the rights of so-called “US persons in Canada” – although $100 each from only one thousand Canadians most affected by FATCA IGA would raise $1 million!
To reach every Canadian:
– this must be more than a legal action, it must be movement that a wide range of folks are motivated to contribute to.
– Support for the Charter Challenge can be positioned as a strike against the casual disregard that the Harper Government has for the Charter, due process, Parliament, and human rights.
– The Harper Cons’ legislation – not just the FATCA IGA, but elections “reform”, 2nd class citizenship, and Internet privacy – has created a Human Rights Crisis in Canada.
The action against the FATCA IGA is an action against the arrogance of the Harper Imperium and its oligarchical rule.
There is a Human Rights Crisis in Canada – it is time for Canadians to Take Back the Charter.