Dear Supporters,
Many of you probably predicted that I would not be saying this today, but this message is not a dream: You came up with yet another $100,000 payment — now making a total of $400,000 provided to the Arvay team.
In the last twelve days you actually donated more than $40,000 — an amazing achievement for small donors. This accomplishment proves to all those people who want us to fail — that we are very determined.
You gave until it hurt and then you gave a lot more. It’s hard not to get teary-eyed over the generosity of our supporters, who have come through every time.
We know that the pace of your litigation is painfully slow, and this is unfortunately as expected. The Government will continue to do its best to slow down the process, but we now have the assistance of a case management judge to help keep the process moving more fairly.
We filed in August 2014 and it has taken a very long time (one year) before we are finally into a (summary) trial (August 4-5, 2015). We cannot predict the outcomes of this trial, based on only part of our arguments and, with your continued support, we will prepare for all possibilities.
[Happy birthday Gwen!]
Thank you for your trust,
Stephen Kish,
ADCS-ADSC Chair,— on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, their families, and the ADCS-ADSC Directors
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Chers amis et donateurs,
Certains d’entre vous avaient probablement pensé que je ne pourrais pasvous annoncer une si bonne nouvelle aujourd’hui. Mais voilà : ensemble, nous avons réussi à ramasser un autre montant de 100 000 $, ce qui fait un total de 400 000 $ à remettre à l’équipe de MeArvay.
Dans les 12 derniers jours seulement, vous avez donné plus de 40 000 $, un exploit tout à fait extraordinaire pour des « petits donateurs ». À tous ceux qui souhaitent nous voir échouer, cette réussite prouve que nous sommes des plus déterminés. Et que nous réussirons.
Vous avez donné jusqu’à ce que ça fasse mal, puis vous avez donné encore. Difficile de rester insensible devant une si grande générosité.
Nous sommes bien conscients du fait que notre litige avance de façon péniblement lente. Malheureusement, tout ça est normal. Le gouvernement continue à ralentirle processus, mais on nous a maintenant attitré un juge responsable de la gestion de notre dossier qui veillera à ce que le processus progresse de façon plus juste.
En août 2014, nous avons engagé une poursuite contre le gouvernement canadien. Près d’un an plus tard, nous avons enfin la date pour notre procès sommaire : les 4 et 5 août 2015. Impossible de prévoir le dénouement de ce procès, basé uniquement sur une partie de nos arguments juridiques. Mais avec votre appui, nous serons prêts pour toutes les possibilités.
(Bonne fête, Gwen !)
Au nom de nos deux plaignantes, Ginny et Gwen, de leurs familles et des directeurs de l’ADCS-ADSC, je vous remercie de votre confiance.
Stephen Kish,
Président de l’ADCS-ADSC
@bubblebustin
I don’t consider either “homelanders” or “accidentals” to be especially useful terms, so I’m not so much trying to define them as suggesting we stop using them. These extraterritorial laws apply to all people considered by the USG to be US persons, regardless of where their residence is (including those presently residing in the US) and regardless of whether they do or ever did want to be US citizens. This type of categorization isn’t particularly useful IMHO.
Of course those who live in the US would be rightfully subject to US taxation even under RBT but FATCA places many restrictions on “US persons” and filing a 1040 is only a part of it.
Ted Cruz is an example of how someone may have an unwanted citizenship. The concern I’d have with citing Cruz as an example, however, is that Cruz was able to renounce Canadian citizenship pretty painlessly and if we invoke the analogy, people might think it is equally easy in the reverse direction–when it plainly is not. Without fully educating people–and without people willing to listen and be educated–the example of Cruz might easily create the wrong impression.
Cruz is a great example of someone who thought they’d lost their citizenship by the mere act of not using it (probably because he was a minor when he left Canada).
Your concern that using Cruz to highlight the differences between the two systems to homelanders is in my opinion, ridiculous. How does it not benefit us to compare Canadian renunciants to US ones?
@Dash1729
I use Ted Cruz as an example of how someone can be unaware that they have another citizenship and also to point out how easy it was for him to shed Canadian citizenship and how hard it is for someone who is a US citizen. I point out the difference in cost, the 5 year US tax filing requirement (and the high accounting fees), the US potential exit tax and the long wait for the required US Consulate appointment.
@ Bubblebustin
You are right, Ted Cruz is a great example.
@bubblebustin @heartsick
Again–I don’t think someone’s “accidental” status–whether Ted Cruz or someone the USG calls a citizen–is a useful distinction to be making. It divides “US persons” into different categories and it would attract more support if we didn’t do so. The goal should be to unify, not divide, “US persons” in this fight.
I agree with the comment made by @Walt on the last page that there is a bit of a “vibe” here that the primary focus is on “accidentals” and that this may be limiting the ability to raise funds. Maybe there is a good reason for that bias and if so I won’t try to challenge it–but I do think it may limit fund-raising. There are many, many people worldwide who are not “accidentals” but are nevertheless profoundly affected by this.
@ Dash1729
Seemed to be a good unified day today though. There were over $3000 in donations. I love these good days — makes me worry less about vibes and such. We are such a mixed bag at Brock. Some, like me, barely notice things like whose an “accidental” and how that’s defined. We’re all in the same boat. We all want to grab the tiller away from Captain Fatca and plot our own course.
@EmBee
I agree it has been a good day for donations and I also think we’ll make it when it comes to the May 1 and Aug 1 deadlines just as we did for the earlier deadlines. Thinking ahead, though, there may come a point when we want to broaden this fight and the fewer categories we slot people into, the easier it will be to expand the scope of the fight at an appropriate time.
I don’t believe that the primary focus here is on accidentals. It’s Obama who’s made the distinction here with his possible ploy to divide us. It was for strategic reasons that Gwen and Ginny were chosen as plaintiffs for their “purity”, and as Stephen Kish has explained, others in different predicaments will be invited as witnesses if necessary. Yes, we are in this together, but no one is obligated to go down with the ship if they have the opportunity save themselves first. By the same token, there’s no obligation for others to help save anyone if they feel it’s to their own detriment. Sauve qui peut!
@Gwen Thanks for your note. I try to always mention ADCS and Isaac Brock Society on posts to articles. The more community members we have here the greater the contributions.
Lately I like to talk about fatcalegalaction as I’ll feel more comfortable when they file their suit, which they have not but said they would in Q1 which leaves about a month.
Everyone is an accidental citizen at birth.
I just emailed the following message to my Con MP….because I felt like it. We shouldn’t forget to keep up the pressure here….embarrass them if they continue down this path.
Just an update to how this constituent is thinking.
I see that your friend Obama has vetoed the Keystone pipeline again.
And your government threw over a million Canadian citizens to the US
wolves for what again????
(Think FATCA capitulation to the USA, February 2014). I guess it’s easy
to vote FOR such things when it doesn’t affect you.
@Bubblebustin
“I don’t believe that the primary focus here is on accidentals.”
Fair enough. I think part of the perception may be arising because both Gwen and Ginny have a somewhat similar background (in this regard): born in the USA but moved to Canada at a young age and have had little or nothing to do with the USA ever since. People may think that is the only demographic that is represented here without realizing that witnesses with many different backgrounds but similarly hurt by FATCA/CBT may eventually be called.
I think I just got PNGed from American Expatriates and AARO FB groups. It seems like they are pretty heavy into censorship. Probably because I wrote that CBT for non-resident Americans is a modern form of slavery and Obama is the Slave-Master in Chief.
I was immediately met with a fusillade of comments, “how dare you link Obama to slavery, that’s racist. You should be ashamed of yourself” — amazing how any criticism of the “holier than thou” Obama is immediately twisted around as being racist. Its like an automatic gag order on all criticism.
@PierreD re: embarrass them. I like to call it “guilt them.”
@Walt I had a few Tweets with not so subtle comparison with the US and North Korea in that both are part of the ‘Tax Axis of Evil’ of North Korea, Eritrea, and the USA. I suppose that would not go over well on American Expatriates and AARO.
@Dash1729 people should read the ADCS claim and they will find that there is lot of references to tax and other injustices that impact on every USP abroad.
There is only one category of people here and that is anyone considered US persons for tax purposes resident in Canada. That includes Canadian citizens and legal permanent residents. We shouldn’t be fragmented into sub-groups. Its tempting, since some came here of their own volition and some did not. Still, we ARE all in the same boat now and Uncle Sam has become Captain Bligh. The lawsuit is our mutiny and it is coming!
@JC
The injustices affect every USP, period. Whether resident in Canada, in the USA, or elsewhere in the world. I do recognize that a Canadian lawsuit must focus primarily on Canadian residents. Although I will note that in the other lawsuit I donate to, the lower court upheld the right of Canadians outside Canada to vote.
@Lake Superior Guy
It shouldn’t be limited to Canadian residents. There are many legitimate reasons for a non resident to maintain a Canadian bank account.
The ADCS lawsuit seems to be slowly becoming the whole world’s answer to the Bully actions of the US Congress. Canadians will not tolerate being forced to allow another country’s laws to violate our own laws designed to protect our citizens. This lawsuit is for every person who is living with this injustice around the world as the outcome here will send shock waves around the world. If Congress really cares about human rights and the rights of people who were born in the USA, they need to act on this sooner than later. The word from our Canadian government seems to be ” The big bad “USA” MADE us do it” so who cares about 1 million Canadians lives. I do and that is why I am here. This is for everyone and we’ll keep up the fight. More donations of money and time coming….
@NativeCanadian
Agreed. The ADCS action is, if not the only game in town, certainly the main event at present.
@Walt
I am a member of the American Expatriates FB group and it has lots of interesting stuff, almost as good as IBS now that it has 800 members. Keith Redmond, who heads the group, states at the top “Constructive critique of these policies is welcomed but anti-American ranting and political party bashing are not. ” I guess you crossed the line! Petros though gets away with hundreds of critical comments. About censorship, the previous group that Keith replaced this with (it has a slightly different name) would not even people mention FATCA and renouncement, it was just a group of Americans abroad that shared cookie recipes.
@kermitzii
I give them two or three weeks of more people receiving FATCA letters, then lets see what the group members over there start writing. I believe that my writings will soon start looking mild compared to what is about to transpire.
In any case, one of the true strengths of Isaac Brock Society has been its respect for freedom of speech. American Expatriates and AARO still have something to learn in that department.
@Walt
No one blocked you at AARO and AE, but I can see why you would want to leave. I’ve now been blocked by one of the commenters because I went toe to toe with her about her accusations that you made racist remarks.
@Walt
I should say that a couple of commenters may have blocked you, but the admin claims to not have.
@Walt COME BACK! (If for no other reason than to bug James and Missy Lehman!) I miss following your “peppering”. The “gals” will have your back!
@bubblebustin & Charl
That was you? Cool, thanks! That Sharron Lehman lady really had it out for me after I referred to Obama as the Slave-Master in Chief. She seems to be emotionally attached to Obama and some kind of apologist for CBT.
And then Jamie Flowers started going off on tea partiers. Little does he know, among the tea party heavyweights are the strongest supporters of expats — Mike Lee and Rand Paul.
And of course James, he’s just a diehard socialist who doesn’t like to debate. Little does he know, I actually respect him for the letter he posted in protest of the politics within his own party. Unfortunately, he too appears to be an apologist for CBT.
In any case, this is what happened. I shut down my Walter Sanchez FB account because the e-mail account connected to it was hacked and started spewing out all kinds of spam to everyone in my address book. So I closed both the e-mail as well as the FB account.
I opened another FB and email account under Walt instead of Walter. I tried several times to join the AARO group but no reply. I managed to join American Expatriates for about a day but was then removed from the group. I tried again to join but no answer. So I just figured they declared me “persona non grata” for pressing somebody’s hot buttons about Obama.
So thank you ladies for checking with the administrators. Please communicate to them that I am still trying to join.
OK, I sent a message to the admin for both, Walt.