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
———————————————————————————————–
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
Interesting you should quote Churchill. His mother was an American and he presumably inherited US citizenship from her. Somehow I doubt that he filed US taxes.
Sincere condolences to Native Canadian and family. It is so hard to loose a family member, especially at Christmas. Thank you for all your support at IBS. Look forward to hearing from you in the New Year.
@NativeCanadian
So sorry to hear about the passing of your mother…. its hard to lose a dear family member especially so close to the holidays…. Realize u have already done your mother proud by standing up for one & all…. my family and I wish to extend our condolences to u & your family…
@Native Canadian,
My deepest condolence on the loss of your Mom.
@Native Canadian, my deepest sympathy on the passing of your beloved mother. May you always be able to feel her love!
@Stephen Kish, I had no idea about the capitulation of the Vatican, but it probably wasn’t left up to the Pope. You are right that several of the Ten Commandments are violated; another is: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. The U.S. government is lying when they re-claim as citizens a lot of people who’d lost it when becoming Canadian (or another nationality). Also, a lot of the pressure to get other countries to sign on IGAs is built on lies and misinformation to be used AGAINST the U.S.’s own neighbours. The IGA’s are just like the spurious treaties the Native Peoples (Indians) signed, that lied about what they would receive and in the end were used AGAINST them.
@NativeCanadian, condolences to you about your mom. Take care.
@NativeCanadian My sympathies to you and your family on the loss of your mother.
Thank you everyone for your messages and condolences. My mother was 87 and lived a full life.She was raised in Rimouski Quebec and was Abenakis first Nations. She passed peacefully of natural causes. She also raised two sons who are fighters and who are living very happy lives. Her funeral is in Brantford Ontario on December 30. We are letting everyone know that they can send donations to the ADCS-ADSC in her memory. This was my and my brother’s wishes as they all know of this fight for my family’s well being. Again, thank you everyone. [XXXXXXXX].
NativeCanadian,
Bless you and your family. We here are very honoured that you have let those who mourn your mother’s loss that they can donate to ADCS-ADSC in her memory. Thanks for introducing all of us to your wonderful Abenakis First Nations mother! She will live on in your heart — and ours.
@Native Canadian
I am sorry to hear of your mother’s passing, especially so close to Christmas.
@Northernshrike
Winston Churchill’s mother probably lost her citizenship by 1908 because she was married to a foreigner.
From the post:
— ONE OF OUR SUPPORTERS IN THE UNITED STATES, in this fight from the very beginning, explains why these FATCA IGA extorted “agreements” must be defeated:
“How would you feel when Mr. Roy Berg of Moodys Gartner publishes this about you: “…we acknowledge that the two Canadian plaintiffs are exposing themselves to tremendous tax and other legal risks. Sticking to what we know, the plaintiffs seem to have admitted that they willfully did not file FBARs and US tax returns, both of which are criminal acts.”
Criminal acts? Really? These plaintiffs were born in the U.S. and left 5 years later as little girls to live in Canada where they should live happily ever after. Yet for failing to file forms with the Financial Crimes Enforcement arm of the tax agency in the land of their birth have committed–GASP!–“criminal acts”. I look forward to the day when their names are cleared.
@Jan,
The US citizen author of that quote is a guest here in Canada, who has an undeclared vested interest in making such statements. He is here in Canada to reap US crossborder tax compliance fees, and is a self declared member of Democrats Abroad – and thus a supporter of the very regime which is forcing FATCA via extortion on Canada and the rest of the globe. He commits the sin of omitting to note that the plaintiffs legal challenge and complaint is taking place in their home of Canada – which isn’t yet a US state, and the FBAR issue of which he complains, is not a crime in this jurisdiction. He does not have any facts that establish that the plaintiffs even meet the filing threshold, much less what their US tax liability – if any, might be. And if there is no US tax owed, then no crime has taken place in not filing a US tax return per se, despite US demands. The non-filing of a US tax return is also not a criminal act in Canada. What is obvious from the quote is that the author – despite being a lawyer, and despite being currently a resident in Canadian jurisdiction, is wholly unconcerned with the potential illegality of the FATCA IGA, and of the abrogation of our Charter rights and constitution. He is also wholly unconcerned with Canadian sovereignty and autonomy and with the massive costs that FATCA represents to Canadian citizens, residents, and ALL Canadian taxpayers.
Why? Because his interests and the interests he represents are better served by trying to discredit and scare the plaintiffs, and to shore up US extraterritorial CBT in all its confiscatory and unethical manifestations, including the FBAR, and FATCA – no matter what the costs and harm to Canada and Canadians.
All the more reason to stiffen our resolve and for those who haven’t donated to the legal challenge:
Donate to the ADCS legal challenge, and protect Canadian sovereignty from those who seek to profit from its surrender and loss.
http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/DonateADCS.html
Posting here as comment so that Ginny and Gwen’s risks are archived in this website:
For those who are NEW TO THIS LAWSUIT and to our Plaintiffs, who both left the United States for Canada when they were five years old:
HERE ARE THREE OF THE MANY RISKS THAT PLAINTIFFS GINNY (RETIRED LAWYER) AND GWEN (GRAPHIC DESIGNER) ASSUME THAT WE (DONORS, SUPPORTERS, ALLIANCE DIRECTORS) DO NOT:
@Badger,
You bring up the subject of Mr. Roy Berg on this thread, but also in another thread in which you cite his extraordinary article below.
Mr. Berg is very special because he wishes to PERFECT the FATCA IGA between Canada and the United States — to fix up the technical errors which could be problematic for this extorted “agreement”.
I can’t help being reminded in this context of the movie “Bridge on the River Kwai”. Do you remember the senior British officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson played by Alec Guinness?
He helped, to his shame, the Japanese “perfect” the bridge that would ultimately of course harm the British. Only at the very end, just before he died, did he appreciate the consequences of his compliance when he exclaimed “What have I done?”.
Luckily though we had William Holden and Jack Hawkins (Ginny and Gwen?) to save the day and blow up that bridge.
Read this article, you will be amazed, and think of Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson:
FATCA in Canada: The Restriction on the
Class of Entities Subject to FATCA
Roy A. Berg and Paul M. Barba*
Canadian Tax Journal 2014, Volume 62, Issue Number 3
pg.587
fulltext available at
http://www.ctf.ca/CTFWEB/EN/Publications/CTJ_Contents/2014CTJ3.aspx
Great analogy, Stephen.
@Stephen, Berg’s desire to ‘perfect’ the FATCA IGA is an attempt at ‘perfecting’ an instrument which at its very root the legal challenge will demonstrate to be unperfectable and illegal. The IGAs were concocted (and purport) to wholly override our domestic laws, and the domestic laws of all other jurisdictions in the world in order to make FATCA extortion ‘work’ for the US. Therefore, Berg would ‘perfect’ the unperfectable, and the unjust – the proxy instrument of the US Treasury, which may very well be proven to be illegal and unconstitutional in Canada as well as providing us with no benefits that the current Canada/US tax treaty does not already contain, via an IGA that has been criticized as one which was entered into without proper authority within the US. FATCA rests on a base of US extortion via threats of unwarranted economic sanctions directed towards any other country which does not agree to buy the US a free lunch forever and ever – a multi-course meal funded from the Canadian fisc and Canadian economy, as well as the legal local assets and earnings of ALL citizens and resident TAXPAYERS outside the US.
The cost of implementing and maintaining the FATCA IGA imposes what amounts to a US tax and burden assessed and enforced on ALL Canadian taxpayers as a whole. Further innumeration of issues raised by the FATCA IGA, was detailed in the submission authored by Profs Christians and Cockfield ( Christians, Allison and Cockfield, Arthur J., Submission to Finance Department on Implementation of FATCA in Canada (March 10, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2407264 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2407264 ) and the papers listed here http://citizenshipsolutions.ca/who-i-am/richardson-submissions-on-citizenship-based-taxation-and-fatca/ . Note that Berg chooses to ignore those issues.
In seeking to ‘perfect’ the FATCA IGA on Canadian soil, Berg accepts (among other issues):
– the very real discrimination against Canadian citizens based solely on their (US) birthplace or ancestry and denial of the right to be deemed innocent before guilt and to enjoy the full rights that our Charter and Constitution provide (the legal, Charter and Constitutional issues raised by FATCA also apply to Canadian permanent residents).
– the unwarranted extraterritorial economic aggression and arrogance FATCA represents,
– the unwarranted methods of extracting personal and financial information via force and threat (extortion)
– the unlimited storage and dissemination of our personal and financial data and the data of others who are non-USpersons, to be subject to the tender ministrations of the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and shared with US law enforcement and unlimited other US agencies (like the NSA?) who have no tax mandate, no accountability and provide no recourse. And who of course, Canada has absolutely no jurisdiction or leverage over.
– the very real potential for data theft and security breaches that the collection and dissemination of the data extracted under FATCA (and FBAR) represents as a threat to our personal, family and business financial security.
Berg accepts;
– the base intent of the US to leverage FATCA to go far beyond what is required of US residents to report on their local accounts (which would never be accepted in the US), and which US Financial and non-financial institutions do not and will not collect or provide.
– lack of true reciprocal information exchange, which under FATCA goes far far beyond anything that the US provides (or intends to provide) to any other country.
He also muddies the water by raising the OECD Common Reporting Standards, which as we know differs significantly in basis from FATCA – as they have already stated that the CRS basis is RESIDENCE and not CITIZENSHIP/PARENTAGE/BIRTHPLACE/Expired PR greencard status, which is the basis that US extraterritorial CBT and FATCA demands are predicated on. And, the US hasn’t signed on to the CRS. FATCA was never intended to provide any benefit to any other country other than the US, and the IGAs have been designed to foist the cost of maintaining FATCA onto the taxpayers of the world, for US benefit.
There is no ‘benefit’ to Canada unless you consider that a victim of extortion who escapes with limbs unbroken after acceding to the demands of a robber ‘enjoys’ that as a ‘benefit’.
@Badger & Stephen Kish:
Given the validity of the above points, it is too bad we do not know anyone with “US taint” who works in the RCMP who might follow up on such illegal and citizen-threatening activities on Canadian soil by such a foreign “visitor”.
@LM,
instead we have the CRA updating its FATCA FAQs (as of Dec. 23rd 2014) to ‘help’ us, by spouting unsubstantiated nonsense like this;
” 3. Does my financial data remain confidential?
Yes, it does. The information is exchanged in accordance with the provisions of the Canada-U.S. tax treaty. The treaty contains robust safeguards to make sure that the IRS treats as confidential the taxpayer information that it receives and that it uses the information solely to administer tax laws.”…
and,
“…the IRS cannot share the information it receives under this agreement with non-tax authorities. Also, the IRS cannot use the information to administer non-tax laws such as the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act….”
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/nhncdrprtng/fq-eng.html
Oh yeah? The CRA is really going out on a limb here, and cutting off the branch since the US specifically said that FATCA is meant to be used in conjunction with the existing provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act. It isn’t called ‘son of FBAR’ for nothing. And we know that the Patriot Act and Homeland Security and other US laws supercede other US laws- and they don’t give a damn for Canadian laws. So, on what basis is the CRA unequivocally making those assurances?
The CRA obviously hasn’t read this:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2433198
‘FATCA and the Erosion of Canadian Taxpayer Privacy’
Arthur J. Cockfield
Queen’s University – Faculty of Law
April 1, 2014
Report to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, April 2014
FATCA is intended to be free from the limitations placed on US tax returns. It is intended to be used for purposes other than the mere assessment of US tax, shared however they please, and stored forever. And in any case, the US can change the US FATCA law and any other US laws whenever they please, Canada has NO control, no recourse, and the US is not accountable to Canada.
Who would believe anything that Canada or the US says about data protection anyway, since the Snowden revelations about the NSA, and the spying done by the US – AND CANADA – as part of the ‘Five Eyes’ document with primary sources that the US spys on US citizens without warrant, and without oversight. And there appear to be no restrictions on their spying on non-US citizens.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/the-nsa-files
Who would believe the Canadian government’s claims re protection of our data and personal information?
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/05/13/canada_actively_spies_for_nsa_new_book_says.html
This guy has summed it all up
Submitted by Roger D. Conklin, private citizen
Retired international sales and marketing executive, Palmetto Bay, FL
Formerly a US citizen resident abroad in Peru, Brazil and Puerto Rico
Just tweetd this :
@BarackObama @IRSnews Replace Citizenship-Based Taxation #CBT with Residence-Based Taxation #RBT to save US economy http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/conklin_wg_comments.pdf
And this :
@RoyBerg1 read chapter 3 Citizenship-based Taxation Violates both the US Constitution and human rights : http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/conklin_wg_comments.pdf …
#CBT #FATCA
Thanks, Steven.
*This guy* – Roger Conklin, well-known and respected here, is among the warriors this community has lost: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/11/29/roger-conklin-passes-away-tireless-advocate-for-americansabroad-and-a-decent-human-being/.
Roger is mentioned in this new Brock post: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/12/29/twitter-and-facebook-comment-opportunities-at-the-chamber-of-commerce/
Oh, I didn’t know that.
May he rest in peace.
He did a great job of pointing out how bad CBT is for the usa, wich is the most efficient approach.
The more we show how badly FATCA and CBT are hurting America, the more the gouvernement will be concerned to change things.
They don’t care about us and won’t change things just for us.
Steven,
For sure, emphasizing how this hurts the USA is important. Thanks!
Native Canadian: I’ve been in “radio silence” for a few days and have just read of your mother’s passing. My sincere condolences to you.