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
——————————————————————————————————-
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
@ George
Oh definitely. I do not want amounts. It’s just curiosity which prompted my wish to know which countries the donations are coming from. (I know some from memory but I didn’t save all the updates.) It has such a special meaning to me and others here too to know that people outside of Canada are willing to donate to a Canadian lawsuit. However with the Valentine’s Day Meet-up and the Senate Finance Committee submission looming, this list should definitely be on a back burner for our small but amazingly effective ADCS team.
@EmBee, I am curious too about the countries. Many times we only know the country from the stamp.
How many times have people from other countries helped to fund a lawsuit against the mean-spirited Government of Canada? How many times have there been donations from countries outside of Canada for ANY Canadian lawsuit? Is this a first?
I would also like to know the “typical” (median) donation. We will never know absolutely the total number of donors because many donated anonymously and could have been repeat or one-time donations. My understanding is that because of our success we have to pay (est. $5000) for an auditor to go over the books for 2014. Treasurer Tricia will publish online the accounting.
Unrelated to this thread, but I do not know what the right place is to post this:
Is anyone in touch with Just Me? He’s not posting here anymore and is twitter page hasn’t been updated since Dec 30th. Just wondering about him and wanted to know if he’s OK.
@noone, I was wondering too. Hope all is well.
noone and badger,
Just Me reported awhile ago that he was taking a much needed several month break from all of this — I believe he is wearing out hiking boots.
@calgary, thanks for the update. If you speak to him, tell him; we miss him, but good hiking and best wishes!
Oh look… John Baird is resigning… Another one of Harper’s trained seals gone…. wonder why? ……
I sometimes wonder if both Harper and Obama want this court battle to succeed. This is a law that was brought in for what could seem like a noble reason, to catch US citizens living in the US and stashing money overseas to avoid taxes. Seems simple. Like so many things someone catches hold of this and it spirals into the realm of extremes and stupidity. Countries start signing IGA’s with little thought to the future and how extreme things are going to become. Soon other countries sign on because now there are several countries seemingly on board and it gets more out of hand. The IRS is its power hungry, don’t care about anyone or anything wisdom, decides to dig in deeper and now no one appears to be able to stop this gigantic stupid process.
Now we are back to President Obama and PM Harper. Being politicians they should be able to stand up as leaders and say ‘stop’ this is not was what meant to happen, not this damaging, frightening, stupidity that sees no end. They are not strong enough leaders, or strong enough humans to admit to making a mistake so on it goes.
Winning this lawsuit could be there way out. It could be that they can use the win as an face saver. They should be getting friends to donate on their behalf. I fear though that as they have proved to be weak in leadership on this topic that instead of bowing to the courts, they will let their hackles up and feel they need to win no matter what. That is what power does, makes a person feel they need to win no matter what and no matter who is harmed.
Makes me think that the term ‘political leader’ needs to be redefined. ‘Political leader – those that have the drive and determination to make it to the top, and then become weak and uncaring when they reach their goal’.
@ForeverCanadian. Ann#1 posted somewhere that her MP told her if this lawsuit succeeds, maybe Obama will listen and common sense will prevail. (I don’T remember the exact words or where it was. Perhaps someone else can find it.
It is even more despicable if the government wants this lawsuit to fail that they are putting us through this and making it as difficult as they can. The most recent example is their delaying of filing their required affadavidits because they have 33,000 documents to review.
I alerted Finance Canada in my submission of November 2012 that a lawsuit was likely.
Far more importantly, Peter Hogg, Canada’s most prominent constitutional scholar, told Finance Canada that an IGA like the one they signed would clearly violate the Charter. He recommended the government report on non-residents only.
He suggested the response to the Americans should be that our Charter does not allow for such treatment of Canadians.
NDP and Green MPs have warned them that a constitutional challenge will likely succeed. The Harper Cons will not listen to anyone,
For an indication of the lengths they will go to in order to fight us, consider that they have already spent $700,000 in legal costs fighting disabled war veterans and $1.3 million fighting sick new Moms in the courts.
They have a deplorable record before the Supreme Court, losing far more than they win. Yet they persevere using our tax dollars.
We need to be prepared that the Cons will fight us every step of the way. They have no compassion for us because “Congress has spoken.”
That is why it is so important that we fund this lawsuit. We and the Canadian courts are our only hope. Thank goodness for Gwen, Ginny and everyone who has donated to support them in the risk they are taking for all of us.
N
Yes Blaze, I know that it is wishful thinking on my part that governments will come to their senses. As I hit the ‘donate’ button for the 9th time last night I could only shake my head in amazement. How can the leaders of such wonderful countries be so heartless and narrow minded. I understand the need to protect ones country but this is not what FATCA is about. As an accidental US person I am no harm them, I am not taking anything from them, just trying to live my life and make sense of things.
I also appreciate what Gwen, Ginny and all the supporters are doing. This website has been a comfort to me amid confusion and anger and in many ways I am in awe of what is happening hear. Truly the ‘hear us roar’ starts here.
The Supreme Court of Canada will rule on the “assisted suicide” case this Friday.
Our attorney Joe Arvay has been arguing the case. You may be on one or the other side of the argument, and Mr. Arvay’s arguments may or may not be successful, but this does show again that he has experience in Canada’s highest court.
@ForeverCanadianian: “The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.” (Henry Kissinger)
Unfortunately, Obama, the Canadian Cons and governments around the world are trying to find too many ways to speed up the unconstitutional.
@ George and all the Fab Brockers globally. please know that my donations from London are one of the few ways that I feel I can regain at least a smidgen of the power that I once thought I had over my own life (as the reality of us tax slavery only sank in to me with FATCA) .
contributing to ADCS and telling the story of the evil of CBT to everyone I can (every STEM graduate prevented from being entrapped into US tax perpetual slavery either via GC or citizenship ) is another nail in CBT coffin and an action of self determiantion and self reclamation that I can take to try to climb back a little way at least to the health and serenity I enjoyed before FATCA
Renouncing was life altering for me. I cried and was physically ill afterwards. I am waiting for critical mass of a lawsuit in Europe to the ECHR, I will fundraise, provide admin support, pound pavements, do whatever behind the scenes I can. I had though that ACA might initially be the right vehicle but my energies go itno saving up for my ADCS donations now.
I love America more than ever now that I can only return as a tourist. my parents are ageing and not well, my friends understand and support my decision (more than my extended family) and are aghast at the realities facing USPs abroad.
Remember people: every crumb of communication , every time the story is told, or posted, or tweeted, or publicised, every interview and every dolllar to ADCS ……. “as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil from the land, so [this] destroy[s] the hope [of Congresscritter Homeland capital extraction from other nations to fund America’s $18 trillion deficit]” to paraphrase Job 14:19. Our personal stories are much much more powerful than abstract figures.
Brava to the two brave ladies fronting the lawsuit….. I only wish I had fraction of your courage.
@Crystal London Thanks for sharing your story and angst. I am amazed at similar stories of those who have renounced and remain keen to bring the fight to the Homelanders on the issues. There is the story of Tricia Moon who ended up renouncing but who is now Director of ADCS, and the Homelanders are now really in trouble although they don’t really know it yet. This is a secret weapon of resolve unfathomable to Homelanders who think if you can no longer vote in the USA and via vote impact on a Congressional elections then off the radar. Part of the resolve must stem from the fact that many still have relatives in the US and because of this there may potentially be brushes in future with US tyrannical laws, unless these laws are further checked.
To others reading please consider donating today to ADCS and consider contributing your story for presentation to the US Senate Finance Committee.
@forever Canadian
You make a good point that Harper and Obama could hide behind the skirts of the Supreme Courts (eventually of both countries). However, to assume that Obama is even aware of this issue gives him too much credit. He is the “bystander president” after all. To think that in his last two years he will spare a thought for Americans abroad or US persons is kind of laughable. He is, in a word, incompetent. Harper, on the other hand, is competent without compassion,and has become a partisan survivor at all costs. I would not mourn his political demise. I do, however, worry about young Trudeau. If he listens to his US consultant Larry Summers (a liberal Democrat) then his ideas on FATCA will not favour our side. The Libs need to be pinned down on this matter before an election campaign drowns out our concerns. BTW, I doubt that John Baird lost even a nanosecond of sleep over FATCA
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@All,
Some you have expressed concern that should the Obama budget proposal, if ever enacted, provide some relief to duals-at-birth, like our two Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, this could mean trouble for our lawsuit — because both Plaintiffs are duals-at-birth. Apparently, Canada’s Mr. Roy Berg himself, a U.S tax compliance professional, is mentioned in an article (which I have not seen) which states that should the tax code on duals-at-birth change for the better, this might “spell the death-knell” to our Canadian lawsuit.
Please do not worry. The Arvay team has been quite aware of the issue of specific characteristics of plaintiffs from the very beginning.
Today Mr. Arvay also has confirmed with me, yet again, that our legal strategy is not limited to the specific characteristics of the two plaintiffs, that additional plaintiffs can be added to the lawsuit should this ever be necessary, and that our aim has always been to include affidavits from people who span a range of differing characteristics.
Good to hear this, Stephen. Thank you.
@ Stephen Kish
Thank you for those reassuring words. It was something I was wondering about but not so much that it would in any way reduce my commitment to continue my donations to ADCS. You also bolstered my already high regard for Mr. Arvay and my less than high regard for compliance condor Mr. Berg. Does he tap dance on graves too? Did he swing kittens by their tails when he was young? Who reached into his heart (and when) to yank out all his empathy? We have always known our cause is just and now we know Mr. Arvay can and will adjust to any unexpected bumps in the road headed toward success of the ADCS lawsuit.
Why does the Isaac Brock Society profile on Twitter refer to isaacbrocksociety.COM … naturally it does not work. Perhas an authorized person might fix the error … please ……
@ nervousinvestor
Gosh you’re right. At the time the twitter account was opened it was “.com” but Petros later moved it to “.ca”. I hope someone will fix that link.
Does anyone else realize what day it is today? It was one year ago today that the Cons announced their betrayal of us with the IGA.
When I suddenly realized this, I made another donation. I hope others will do the same.
To mark the occasion, so will I. Thanks for pointing out this first anniversary, as we should not let it slip by, of Harper Conservative betrayal of one million Canadians, now know as *US citizens who happen to reside in Canada*.
The gross page views are likely to cross the 16 Million mark either today or over the weekend. Present reading is 15,968,888 (15,368,888 on this site plus 600,000 on the prior one). I suggest that more folks go hit Twitter to help spread the word with links back to this site and to adcs-adsc.ca It is so important to get the web address right in the Isaac Brock twitter profile.
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