A research project undertaken by James Eastman-Timmons, an MA student from Carleton University in Ottawa, has been expanded to include volunteers from across Canada. Interviews can be done via phone, and I believe James is hoping to have all interviews completed by the end of this month. I have participated and encourage others to do the same. Following is an invitation from the researcher:
I am looking for current and former American-Canadian dual citizens residing in Canada to participate in a study. The study is on the extent to which current American-Canadian dual citizens consider their status to be inconvenient or burdensome. This study also examines whether former American-Canadian dual citizens (and are now Canadian citizens only) perceived their status to be inconvenient or burdensome, and whether this perception influenced their decision to renounce (give up) their US citizenship. The study will also explore how current and former American-Canadian dual citizens feel about the US tax laws. The researcher for this study is James Eastman-Timmons, an MA student at Carleton University, in the Sociology & Anthropology department.
Individuals interested in participating in this study, will participate in a 60 minute interview. During this time participants will be asked questions that are designed to determine the perceptions of American and Canadian citizenships and American-Canadian dual citizenship status. These questions will also examine what former and current American-Canadian dual citizens consider to be the benefits and burdens of this status, what their experiences are with filing U.S. tax returns, and what their sense of identity is; that is, whether they identify as American, Canadian, or both American and Canadian. Former American-Canadian dual citizens will be asked questions intended to determine why they have renounced their U.S. citizenship, and current American-Canadian dual citizens will be asked questions intended to determine why they have chosen to maintain this status.
If you choose to participate in the study you do not have to answer questions or discuss sensitive financial information, and you have the right to withdraw from the study at any point in time, for any reason up until February 28th 2015. All efforts will be made to ensure that the identity of all participants is protected. All individuals who participate in this study will remain anonymous in the final research project, and their responses will be non-attributable to them. By participating in this study, you will be able to share your dual citizenship stories and raise awareness about the potential financial insecurities and other difficulties that may be associated with this status.
This project has been reviewed and cleared by the Carleton University Research Ethics Board. For questions regarding ethics, the REB may be contacted at 613-520-2517 or ethics@carleton.ca. For those with further questions/concerns, the researcher may be contacted by email at: jameseastmantimmons@cmail.carleton.ca
Sincerely,
James Eastman-Timmons
Thanks for this, WhiteKat. Any trick questions?
@BubbleBustin, No trick questions! Actually, having participated in James’ research project as well as Amanda’s, I find them to be somewhat cathartic – not stressful, as opposed to media interviews where you want to make sure you get everything just right. I mean when else do you get a chance to bitch about the whole FATCA/CBT thing and have a CAPTIVE audience for 60 minutes? I find that with most people who express initial interest, their eyes quickly glaze over shortly after I start speaking. Hmmmm…maybe its just me, not the topic.
@All, During my phone interview with James, he mentioned he was interested in understanding more regarding where the official renunciation numbers come from, and how accurate they are. Brockers know they are understated, and obfuscated – can anyone who has been following this issue more closely than I, suggest any specific articles or posts at Brock, that can help James get a better understanding of the inaccuracies? Perhaps we can also send this list of articles/posts to journalist Tim Fernholz.
Thanks.
Thanks, WhiteKat.
I will look forward to another opportunity to tell my family’s (and others like ours) little piece of the *dual citizen* story. It will be interesting to see if any of their questions pertain to those with some kind of *mental incapacity*.
This has gone through an ethical review board. Those committees are pretty strict about making sure that researchers protect their “human subjects” (interviewees) from harm, including emotional trauma. There is a huge difference between what academics are allowed to do and what journalists can do.
Whitekat,
Would the email address be gmail rather than cmail?
Calgary411, No, it is Cmail.
@ WhiteKat,
Sounds like a really good research project!
There’s a list of articles at “Data and Analysis of US Govt Statistics on Number of Renunciants.” You can also access this in the sidebar under “List of Links by Subject.”
This Global News article by Patrick Cain, Anna Mehler Paperny and Leslie Young mentions this issue and contains a link to DoS’ letter rejecting Ms. Young’s Freedom of Information request.
Direct link to DoS letter refusing FOI request.
Thanks Pacifica…I was hoping someone would post the link to that Patrick Cain article.
Thanks — I’ll keep trying perhaps from other than Firefox. I get this message:
Server not found
Firefox can’t find the server at cmail.carleton.ca.
Check the address for typing errors such as ww.example.com instead of http://www.example.com
If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer’s network connection.
If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.
Calgary, it is an email address, not a link. If you copy it and then paste it into the “To” of your email, it should work fine.
Thanks.
My husband wouldn’t qualify as a dual. He became a Canadian citizen on Sept. 24th and his CLN says he was no longer an American citizen as of the same date. Maybe he was faux-dual during the months of waiting for his CLN to arrive but I’m not sure. Anyway I wish James well on his dual Canadian-American research project. I’ll bet he (and anyone else listening in) got a sweet earful from WhiteKat.
@Embee, your husband CAN participate. The study includes former and current dual citizens.
@Embee…ooops. Yeah, I see what you mean. Technically he was not both at once. I will email James and ask him if he is interested in this group of people for his project.
@Embee, James says: ” I would be very happy to interview individuals who lost their citizenship by becoming naturalized Canadians (if this is the case), even if they have not been both Canadian and American at the same time.”
@ true ex American
You have the wrong guy. James Eastman-Timmons is a validated, well-educated, university researcher. It’s Tim Fernholz on another thread who’s nuts …
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/02/13/tim-fernholz-invites-former-us-persons-to-email-him/comment-page-1/#comment-5573621
@ WhiteKat
I can’t get my husband interested in “talking about it”. I think he’s trying to put it all behind him now. He’s a very easy going kind of guy so he made the switch from American to Canadian without much fuss but I still seethe at the thought that it would not have been necessary if the U.S.A. was behaving in a civilized RBT way. Any word from AtticusinCanada? She’s been very quiet lately. Do you think she’d like to talk to James?
I’m in, sent him an email.
Interview done. It’s for his thesis. Very pleasant young man eager to learn more.
Awareness is snowballing!
Great that you’ve had an interview with James — and others, like The Mom, will too. I have a time to speak with him on Tuesday.
@EmBee. re:trueEXAmerican, lol!
Hi Embee, *waves* I have written to him and said I would be interviewed. I was interviewed for the Brussels study and on Saturday was part of the videotaped interviews in Toronto. I’m over on FB quite a bit. I just have slowed down on some things though. Oh,I forgot sent a letter submission to a leader of the FATCA taskforce through DA. They are going to D.C. this month with the submissions. Was interviewed by Mr. Bopp and Mr. Yue too.
This study looks like a very good thing from a Canadian perspective. Hi all! I’ll let you know if he got back to me. Stay warm!
Atticus,
Thanks for the update and for all you’re doing on different fronts. Doesn’t sound like you’ve slowed down at all.
@ AtticusinCanada
Glad to hear you are still in there swinging — and swinging hard! We’ve missed you around here. 🙂