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
Back from vacation. I am rounding up the family to put together another donation. There is one simple question about this lawsuit and the Brock site I want to ask. How many people here and around the world has Brock helped get through this garbage from the USA? This site needs to go down in world history. You all have our families support now and in the future. The Brock site and all the efforts of all who support and help each other here are lifesavers. This lawsuit will be successful and show everyone that people can make a difference. Thanks again, Michael.
@ Native Canadian
Glad to have you back and equally glad you got a break from all this. You ask how many have been helped by Brock? Well my husband and I for two. He’s free. I’ll never be but I’m coming to terms with that.
@EmBee said
“I’d like to suggest that if anyone has ever been tempted to raise a middle finger to the U.S. tax tyrant that they flip it the bird in a much more powerful way by placing their finger on the bulb of our Sovereignty Thermometer and in combination with other like-minded contributors we’ll push that red line to the top AGAIN! There’s power in our middle fingers if we just push together in the right place.”
I’m just as interested in raising a middle finger to the Harper government which cravenly and obsequiously signed the IGA.with the U.S. Other recent actions of the same government have strengthened my determination to help in handing them another legal defeat and, I hope, an electoral defeat in fall.
I have filed my tax return and expect a refund in a week or two, from which my next contribution to ADCS/ADSC will be coming. I expect there will be a big jump in the thermometer in the last half of April.
“Keep calm and carry on.”
@ AnonAnon
I absolutely agree re: the Harper regime. Last year it was Bill C-31, this year Bill C-51. These (and other) Charter assaults must be stopped. “Our cause is just.” I think using your Canadian tax refund to fund litigation against the Canadian government is a very heroic and generous gesture.
Inspirational interview with Rocco Galati follow him here
https://www.facebook.com/groups/516573461732032
Over $2000 dollars per day is needed now. That’s a big challenge but if we remain dedicated to seeking justice and righting a very big wrong we will meet that challenge. Rocco Galati is shining a light on the big, bad, government-sanctioned, banking system with his lawsuit. Joseph Arvay is essentially doing the same from a different angle. Since the banks consider our money to be their money once it is on deposit, then that means when we donate to the ADCS fund, it is actually the banks which are paying our lawyers to expose and bring change to their system, a system which has hidden its true nature and intent for far too long. We could be part of something big if we just keep going.
This all seems like an uphill race and a blackbox to me. Can you please show me what you have achieved so far? Right now I am getting more and more inclined to giving up my US citizenship and ending all of this. I don’t have any energy to wait until the US kills me financially!
Corey,
This is an uphill marathon, not a sprint. I won’t give up.
I saw AGAIN at a meeting on the weekend that this is so important. On Sunday, I attended a meeting where there was a lawyer speaking about Bill C-51 and offhand she mentioned she was originally from the US. When I talked to her afterwards, she said she knew nothing about this Canadian challenge. If a professional like this woman knew nothing about our fight and we hear in another CBC story yesterday that so many persons living near the border in Quebec say they have gotten little information on how this affects them, those who were born in a US and thereby US-defined US citizens as that is where the nearest hospital was located when it was time for their entrance into this world, I absolutely know there are so many other families out there who need information and hopefully will realize their strongest voices for their families and their futures will be in support for ADCS-ADSC.
Today, in fact as soon as I post this comment, I will send my monthly donation I wish could be larger to help move the thermometer closer to the goal. I will likely get a refund on my Canadian tax return and when that is received I will send to fight what the Canadian government has done by telling me that my son *should just renounce* when the US says he cannot do so as his *mental capacity* doesn’t allow!
@Corey and @ All Just to give a little insight into how this plays out. This is my take on it so far. We all know the Canadian government was dictated to implement US law over Canadian laws under threat from the USA. The Canadian government made a sacrifice to keep the peace with the USA at the cost of Canadians. Not only Canadians who were born in the US, but Canadians who are married to them and ALL other Canadians who bank in Canada. The numbers of the actual cost of implementing US law in Canada is astounding. This is being paid for by the Canadian taxpayer. The Canadian government knows fully well what they have done. They are hoping that we are all sheep Canadians and their hopes are that this lawsuit and the support for our challenge will whittle away and they will be in the clear. I will personally work on this until we are successful in protecting EVERY Canadian citizen no matter where they were born from an attack from their birth country. The USA is showing us all how disgraceful and desperate they are in need of money to fund their own mismanagement of their own country. I have never imagined they would resort to pure extortion to do it. Their credibility is gone on Canada and they are no longer a friendly neighbor. We cannot allow history to repeat itself and continue to be sheep. I am angry and feel deceived by this government. This lawsuit will go on with the full force of what it means to be Canadian. We will all stand together and force the government to protect ALL Canadians. This Sunday, at our family Easter supper, I will once again pass the hat for donations. This is how we fight injustice in our family, we stand together.
Our Con government to date has spent $1.3 million to fight the right of Canadian citizens living outside of Canada to vote. The Ontario Superior Court ruled these citizens do have the right to vote. The case is awaiting a decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal, which means there may be more legal costs to come.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/expat-voters-rights-battle-costs-harper-government-1-3m-so-far-1.3010206
The government also spent $1.3 million to date (probably more to come with appeals) fighting sick new mothers in court.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-spends-13-million-to-prevent-sick-new-moms-from-collecting-ei/article22731091/
They also have spent almost $700,000 so far fighting disabled veterans (a group the Cons claim to love).
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/federal-government-spends-almost-700000-fighting-disabled-afghan-veterans-in-court
II have said from the beginning the government will make this battle as long, brutal and costly as they can for us. The above three cases are examples of how they will use our own tax dollars against us. Their delay tactics of the more than 100,000 documents show their disdain for us and for the process.
They hope we will fail in our efforts to raise the money we need to stand up for what is right. We cannot let them win. We need to raise the money we need for Gwen and Ginny who are risking so much for all of us.
Judging from yesterday’s CBC radio broadcast from Quebec it seems to me that there are pockets of “US Persons” all over Canada. Many have never heard of Fatca. Those who know about it probably don’t know about ADCS and the legal challenge. If only we could reach those people. Imagine where we would be if each of the 1 million US persons contributed one dollar to the the fund.
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they have been given than to explore the power they have to change it.
Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Quote by Muhammad Ali.
Just wanted to share!
@Marie RE ““US Persons” all over Canada. Many have never heard of Fatca”
I just emailed not only the CBC QuebecAM folks who did this interview but also the Mayor of Stanstead (via the Ville de Stanstead website’s Contact US page). We all could be reaching out a hand and offering information to similar smaller Canadian communities along the border in this way. What would be the harm in trying? Anyone game to try this?
There are “pockets” of Americans living in various parts of Canada. In our efforts to reach them, keep in mind that pockets may be institutional as well as geographical. I am retired from the University of Saskatchewan. The U of S Faculty Association did a good job of circulating information I provided about the lawsuit. In fact, every Canadian university has a fair representation of US persons, typically immigrants from the US. I cannot think of any other occupations or institutions that have disproportionate US representation, but maybe there are.
Ann: Thank you for the marvelous quote from Muhammad Ali. Wonderful! And so very true.
Blaze: “We need to raise the money we need for Gwen and Ginny who are risking so much for all of us.” In fact, Gwen and Ginny *are* us.
@MuzzledNoMore. Yes Gwen and Ginny R Us, but they are taking huge risks that the rest of us aren’t. We can’t let them down!
I have just signed up for a webinar organised by Amnesty International. It got me to thinking…Would a webinar, or a series of webinars, help spread the word? In the past, there have been videos made of live presentations, which were put on Youtube. A webinar on the other hand is live and allows for questions from remote participants. If something of the thing were set up, perhaps one of John Richardson’s sessions, IBS participants could publicize it on their local Kijiji/Craigslist sites.
I don’t know how to set up a webinar, but it would be easy enough to find someone who could do it for us.
I’m sensing that for the donor community to make the 5/1 deadline, news of a strong showing by our side at the 4/16 hearing will be required. I suspect many people on both sides will be watching that hearing closely. It is a very important day.
Oh nuts! I forgot about the Easter long weekend. THAT”s why the mail tracker on my donation this month said it will take 9 days to get there. It’s usually faster. Oh well, barring an intercept by the Easter Bunny it should arrive in Toronto around the 9th. HAPPY EASTER to the ADCS team! I hope your Easter basket gets filled to the rim with ADCS donations. 🙂
My tax refund from the CRA has arrived. So I will send my next contribution this weekend in honour of Passover freedom and Easter resurrection, and in protest of U.S. tax imperialism and Canadian Conservative government sycophancy.
Keep the thermometer rising. It’s getting warmer!
Thanks, AnonAnon, for your generosity in honour of so much, and helping to keep the thermometer rising.
Today is our Easter family get together. I will have a good donation either tonight or tomorrow….
@ Stephen Kish
Sounds like NativeCanadian and his generous family are in a beautiful donation mode. Others are pledging their tax refunds. My Easter Bunny courier is resting in Mississauga today, according to the mail tracker, but he will make his delivery soon. I hope these are strong indications that this week your PO box will be filled with a heartening number of ADCS donations.
@ Stephen Kish
🙂 It’s no longer on the wing since it reached Toronto (local delivery facility) about 20 minutes ago. It’s all bunny hops from here on in. (I love mail tracker … something I discovered only 3 years ago.) Unfortunately the May 1st donation bucket is so empty that I’m afraid it will appear as merely a drop. 🙁
Our fight is about retaining our Canadian rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, not to be overridden by an IGA signed by the Conservative government to bring US FATCA to this country:
Join the first annual Rights and Freedoms March, April 17th in Vancouver, to celebrate the anniversary of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.