UPDATE January 24, 2015: THIRD OF FIVE LEGAL BILLS PAID
[We now have a NEW POST taking us up to May 1, 2015. This post will be retired from service.]
On August 11, 2014, Constitutional Litigator Joseph Arvay filed a FATCA IGA lawsuit in Canada Federal Court on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (en français), and all peoples worldwide. Read Alliance’s Claims and comment on our Alliance blog.
Chers amis et donateurs,
Ensemble, nous avons atteint notre but : ramasser les fonds nécessaires pour payer la troisième des cinq factures légales de notre poursuite judiciaire.
Ramasser 300 000 $ provenant de petits dons est un exploit tout à fait extraordinaire et nous invitons notre gouvernement canadien, ainsi que tous les autres gouvernements qui ont piétiné les droits de leurs citoyens, à en prendre bonne note.
Chaque jour, nous nous rapprochons de notre but. Déjà, nous avons ramassé plus de la moitié des fonds nécessaires pour payer les frais légaux de notre poursuite contre le gouvernement canadien et l’entente FATCA.
Si nous avons parcouru un si grand bout de chemin, c’est grâce à nos deux courageuses plaignantes, Ginny et Gwen, à nos donateurs provenant du Canada et de partout dans le monde, ainsi qu’aux administrateurs des sites Internet Isaac Brock Society et Maple Sandbox. Ils permettent tous à nos voix d’être entendues.
Merci !
L’équipe de l’ADSC
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Dear Friends and Supporters,
Together we have reached our goal of paying off the third of five retainer fees for our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit.
Raising $300,000 from small donations is a pretty amazing achievement and we ask the Government of Canada, and those other governments who have also tossed away rights of their citizens, to take notice.
It’s still a marathon, but we are more than half way to pay off the Federal Court legal costs.
We have come so far because of our brave Plaintiffs, Ginny and Gwen, our Canadian and International donor-supporters, and the administrators of the Isaac Brock and Maple Sandbox websites who make it possible for our voices to be heard.
Thank you all,
—The ADCS-ADSC team
@Ann – What great ideas – – you’ve got your creative juices going and I’m going to try some of these in my smallish town (and maybe elsewhere in the larger community). Thanks for these suggestions!
The only other idea I have at this moment is going over to senior-living centers in one’s community. Our small town has proportionately the highest number of seniors for all of Greater Hamilton, Ontario and I have occasionally thought about stopping by some of these “independent living” seniors centers to see if there might be “US Persons” there – – just like I stopped by at the university departments – – you never know until you ask.
Any chance you live in a Canadian province other than Ontario and might post some Kijiji ads?
@ LM
Please be careful with the old dears in the senior centers. We don’t want to have any FATCA heart attacks. Brock it to them gently.
@MuzzledNoMore,
Mr. Butera and ADCS-ADSC are readying a submission to the U.S. Department of State on the renunciation fee issue. We will post the submission and an accompanying press release.
@LM: I’ll also drop some at the hospital bulletin board since nurses and doctors have often worked in the states. My doctor’s office magazine pile will get some, workout centers, church bulletin boards. I hesitate to put flyers on car windows since it makes people crazy, myself included. The fire hall, the community center as well as the Leisure Time Club and my own apartment building have community bulletin boards. The list continues. When I’m out and about and find other spots worth a flyer, I will keep you informed.
@ Ann – YOU GO, GAL!!!
Hadn’t thought about workout clubs or doctor’s offices. I’ll ask my nurse friends about sharing with some of the medical staff here. BTW, if you are in Canada, are you in a province other than Ontario? I’m still looking for someone to post Kijiji ads in other provinces.
Stephen re: “…Butera and ADCS-ADSC are readying a submission to the U.S. Department of State on the renunciation fee issue….”
Thank all who are working on that. Very grateful that the US government will not be able to do this dirty deed as surreptitiously and slyly as they had hoped.
@LM I’m in Ontario!
A donor says:
“They believe the things they are told and their honorable representatives are telling them that rich people in America are stealing their money and hiding it in Switzerland.”
More like, crooked politicians give them corporate welfare cheques and don’t need to hide the money.
Thank you, Stephen! I’m really looking forward to that press release!
Zoomer magazine Nov 2014 issue has an interesting article written by Gordon Pape pg. 40. The article warns “Snowbirds” of the new pitfalls with wintering in the southern states. He also advises that the IRS will snatch up a portion of the sale price of a home purchased in the states and then resold. He speaks of renewed interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands becoming part of Canada. He’s all for it in order to escape all the “bull” from the US to enjoy some winter sun. Gordon might just be on our side!
@ Ann –
I too read that Gordon Pape article in Zoomer and wondered. As someone who was US-born, he was one of the 300+ “Famous Folks” who was written to back in April and June asking for support for the Constitutional Challenge. I understand that, very sadly, none of those snail-mail and/or email and/or tweet contacts resulted in any ADCS contributions.
HOWEVER, that being said, if you and others who have read this article want to write to him through Zoomer, or (maybe even better) write a letter to Zoomer in response to his recent article (provinding all their readers with some FATCA — and IBS and ADCS — things to think about), who knows what interest (and toonies) that might bring! 🙂
PS – – Does anyone know Gordon Pape??? Or other famous (or not so famous but well-heeled) US-born Canadians??? Have you spoken to them lately???
Gordon Pape likely has a REAL INTEREST in this subject: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments/comment-page-21/#comment-1766306
My previous correspondence to Zoomer and to CARP and to Mr. Pape in response to one of his articles have gone unanswered (except for one response from CARP regarding their previously published Finance Minister Flaherty’s statement — as I railed against his new definition of “US citizens who happen to reside in Canada” and that our problem was with the US, not Canada.
A discussion of the right to a bank account under French law is found on the website of the Bank of Saint Pierre et Miquelon:
https://www.bdspm.fr/cache/bdspm_droit-au-compte_doc_20130715160337.pdf
Of course, it’s in French.
I have prepared (and sent in to Pacifica777) a simple PDF document in French that can be put up on bulletin boards in French-speaking communities.
LM, thanks for the great idea!
@ LivingToRenounce
Tres bien! Fantastique (I think this is the spelling) et merci beau coup!!!
So pleased there will be both French and English to draw upon for others! Who knows, maybe the Franco American Flophouse folks can be convinced to use this idea around Paris!!!
BTW, are you living in a province other than Ontario? Any interest in putting up some Kijiji ads (basically the same text as the flier)?
🙂 🙂 🙂
@Tom Alciere:
Thanks for that. If I understand it correctly:
–A French bank can in fact deny anyone an account at any time, and they don’t have to give a reason, though they have to give you an official letter of refusal.
–If you are a French citizen living abroad, and you have no other bank account in France, you can follow the instructions in the letter of refusal to petition the Bank of France for intercession.
–The Bank of France will make sure you get set up with some sort of minimal bank account somewhere, and that’s all.
Do I have that right?
Not as strong a protection as I had thought, and not something one could really use to argue with a bank to twist their arms, but I suppose it is better than nothing. And it is certainly more protection than is afforded by US law to US citizens abroad.
The money being raised is a “snowball”. When parts of the ball become part of the snowball, it attracts more snow. The snowball will get so big, it is just starting to roll!
Yesterday (Sunday) Mr. James Butera, on behalf of ADCS-ADSC, submitted a letter to the United States Department of State regarding the recent increase in citizenship renunciation fee.
See the revised post above for details.
@ Living to Renounce,
Thanks much for the French poster/flyer. It’s great!
It can be accessed directly at “Personnes des États-Unis recherchées – Arrêtons la FATCA”
or through the links on “Anti-FATCA Publicity and Protest Materials” under “Take Action!” on the Sidebar.
@ Living to Renounce & Pacifica,
This poster in French is both eye-catching and succinct. In other words, excellante (I apologize if this is not the right spelling; I took 5 years of conversation French but never writing/reading French – – and that was a lifetime ago)
I wish you well in getting this pull-tab version widely circulated; please keep us informed about your adventures in doing so. 🙂
Absolutely wonderful to read Mr. Butera’s excellent letter to the State Department. I am beyond thrilled! Thank you to all who have made this possible!
Gross Page Views continue to rise …. now about 340,000 over the 13 Million mark. (12.740 million on this site + 0.6 Million on the previous incarnation of the Society web site). The word is slowly spreading …. seems to me to be accelerating …. these things become viral as one person learns and then passes knowledge to others. I thank God for good people.
It is fantastic to see new fronts opened on this. It may appear to be slow but I would say its a careful wearing down of the opponent.
The Butera letter is amazing.
Thanks again to the tireless ADCS board.
The letter and John’s comments should be distributed widely, with a brief cover note summarizing its importance.
Key talking points:
The ADCS lawsuit is currently the ONLY statement of claim against a FATCA IGA in the world.
The Butera letter asserts that the right to renounce US citizenship WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT OR OBSTRUCTION is enshrined in US law.