UPDATE SEPTEMBER 19, 2015: SEE ALSO DISCLAIMER AND LITIGATION UPDATES.
[This post, which began in May and having over 1000 revisions and 2000 comments, is being retired from service and updates. It lived through the success of reaching a total of $500,000 in donations from our kind, dear supporters who had little money to give, the hope and disappointment with the summary trial decision, and the certainty that we are now finally moving on to the Charter trial.]
CANADIAN CHARTER TRIAL UPDATE:
— We have instructed the Arvay team to prepare for the “Constitutional-Charter” trial. This means that our focus now, as it was in the beginning of our lawsuit, is on the Charter trial.
Unless there is a new expense in the future that we have not anticipated, the monies from your donations will be sufficient to take us through the “constitutional-charter” trial in Federal Court. However, to pay other legal bills we will need additional donations from our supporters, and a request for donations will appear on another post soon.
OUR LITIGATION HISTORY:
One year ago, on August 11, 2014, 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.
Because of a Government delay we initiated a “summary trial”, using a portion of the arguments, which offered the possibility of preventing private banking information from being turned over to the IRS before September 30, 2015. See Alliance’s Claims, our Alliance blog, and AUGUST 4-5 SUMMARY TRIAL FILINGS in LITIGATION UPDATES.
@Stephen Kish, I can only say Thank You!!!
May I humbly suggest that you still keep the faucet turned on so we have a few drops in the bucket for round two?
Stephen Kish, the Native are with you on this. Many still have no idea what is going on and many can’t even comprehend it. It is MY work to educate them and work for their full support. We are with you all.
Thank you!
That’s really quite an accomplishment, isn’t it — $500,000 raised. Well done everyone from wherever you sent your donations! Our thanks to the ADCS-ADSC directors, the Arvay legal team and our plaintiffs, Ginny and Gwen. You have put in so much time and effort to make it possible for a voice of reason to address the Canadian courts and to seek redress from the FATCA scourge.
Woo Hoo Ditto Embee’s post x 10000!!!
Dear Stephen, All ADCS People, Gwen and Ginny, and all who believed and have donated, I am grateful and thankful for all we’ve accomplished.
Also, thank you to the Joseph Arvay / David Gruber team presenting at the summary trial in Vancouver on August 4 and 5, 2015 — and to Judge Luc Martineau for listening to us so intently through those who represented our case. We wish you godspeed in your decision that will affect all here.
Additionally, to Stephen, thanks for taking on the incredibly stressful job of telling the day by day story of donations to reach this milestone. You encouraged us and then checked the mail, snail or electronic, to report what good people in Canada and around the world had found, turning their pockets inside out to come up with that just a little bit more than they thought they had been able to provide. John Richardson has my thanks also for such good analysis and summaries along the way — to educate me and others, the laypersons here. Tricia, thanks for all you do in the background (and all the ways in the foreground too) — keeping all of the finances straight — and, Gwen, additionally for all of your and your hubby’s graphics support.
We have far to go, but just think of how far we’ve come! What a large and incredible team we are.
A banner day to be grateful for having these sites available to have made this happen. Thanks, Petros and the Isaac Brock Society. Thanks, Blaze and Outraged Canadian at MapleSandbox. Thanks to every commenter along the way who has helped write our story.
Congratulations to all x 500,000! This is soooooo impressive. Later, when more of the litigation work is done, someone should write a book (or documentary) about IBS, ADCS, Ginny & Gwen, Stephen, John, Trisha & Lynne and all that have made this happen! All I can say is WOW (Worthy Of Wonder!) and hugs all around!
As a repeat international donor, let me say “you’re welcome”. But more than that I’d like to say THANK YOU.
> Your endeavor is uniquely Canadian in many ways, but it has worldwide effects. I cannot begin to imagine how lonely I’d feel without the resource that is this blog. Frankly, the money donated will, in many cases, be worth much less than the information one can gather here. One can form an opinion, and get help, and support, and in many cases save money on the compliance industry.
> The quality of the posts (and comments) here is very high. They are well-written, well-documented, entertaining…
> Those of you who launched this action and maintain these websites are incredibly tenacious and courageous. I thank you all. No matter how Quixotic this may seem at times, I am convinced that only efforts such as these will, in the end, prevail.
Finally, I’d like to echo George and say that you can keep donations open (one way or another). It appears that more money may be needed in the future, and might as well keep the machine running.
@ nervousinvestor
I’ll watch the “Wild Coot” article and if your comment doesn’t appear by later today I’ll try putting a link to your comment here. Hopefully it will free itself from the cogs of the Disqus wheel and slide past moderation. It’s too darn good to go unposted.
Thank you to ALL of you, especially those behind the scenes doing the heavy lifting. That includes those involved in the US litigation, the Canadian litigation, those lobbying, those contacting media, our official plaintiffs, Stephen, our website owners and bloggers, and our donors wherever they may be.
I was very upset to not be able to donate this round. As a stay at home mother, I don’t have income of my own to contribute, and must rely on my husband’s. I hope to be in a position to contribute further if more is needed.
Truly awesome! Thanks to the directors and Lynne for all their hard work.
This is truly a great and historic achievement – the organizers are congratulated for doing the impossible!!!
However, it is also painfully obvious that most people in Canada who need to be aware of their personal hazards in this issue are either blissfully unaware – or willfully in denial or afraid to act – or just apathetic.
The press coverage has been haphazard and lazy. This is one hell of a juicy and compelling story by any measure, yet only a few journalists have even reported it and even fewer – such as Tim Harper – seem to actually “get it.”
It is almost as if the story were being suppressed.
One significant benefit of the summary trial is that the judgement will be newsworthy.
It may become a political issue in the next election.
I am curious as to “how far” the $500,000 takes Arvay and his team. Was that a “quote” for the scope of work needed to take this to SOC? Or does the $500K cover only the summary trial phase? Following the judgement, will Arvay use his media profile and contacts to further publicize the issue?
Wow! We did it! A lot of people have really stretched their budgets — as Stephen mentioned, “small-pockets donors, with their pension cheques and limited funds, somehow managed to contribute a total of $500,000 for our lawsuit.”
It’s so impressive! My thanks to all of us!
Thanks as always to our brave plaintiffs, Ginny and Gwen, and the hardworking ADCS board!
And special thanks today to ADCS co-chair Stephen for administering the fund collecting and updating us daily on it and to Tricia for her accounting work with it as ADCS treasurer!
So satisfied and happy for all with 500k goal met. Am proud to have donated significantly to each of the five 100k fundraisers. Best money ever spent in my life. Too bad Harper and cronies didn’t have the spine to do real battle with US Treasury and fight for what’s ethical and moral, regardless of charter violation.Safe to say they rolled over way to easy. What is most disconcerting is the absolute disregard , no acknowledgement to those affected. And the clandestine way of the Treasury meetings along with the burying of the IGA into a bill not open for debate. Just astonishing in this day and age
how elected leaders can disregard their own morals and throw a multitude of citizens under a bus without a word. Incredible. I feel like I am describing the actions of an ISIS.
I do predict Harper will pay for his cowardice.
He will pay for not taking the stand he should have. What an opportunity missed for leadership! He was in best position of all world leaders to not only leverage a far better deal but to also, as the friendly neighbour to the north, come out publicly and state how wrong, disenfranchising and selfish it was for the U.S. gov to demand of Canada and the world ,
such a ridiculous extraterritorial policy.
Now that would have been a great addition to his legacy. Too bad he was too stupid to take advantage of it. God bless to all and ready to give more if needed.
I was struck by Stephen’s Thank you to all of us, when it is us who are so very grateful to Stephen and all. As @Calgary411 states so comprehensively, it is our gratitude to you, Stephen and Ginny and Gwen, The Arvay legal Team, @Petros, John Richardson, Lynne, Tricia, everyone who has made it possible for us to have a place to find like minds and help somehow to stem the fear and loathing of the assault on people and their entire lives and families.
Our gratitude is eternal and no matter how long it takes we will be here for the long haul.
To have found IBS and Maple Sandbox and all the support has been life changing, life lifting and has sprung hope into crushed hearts ,minds and souls.
We pray for you all and for ourselves to have the strength and will to fight this for as long as it takes to secure freedom for ourselves and our children and future generations.
As Churchill said regarding the outcome of The Battle of Britain:
“Never in the field of human conflict
was so much owed by so many to so few.” AND:
“We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, What is our policy? I will say; “It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.” You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory – victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.”
And in the truest sense Churchill spoke for all Britain and all free people. The Battle of Britain was fought by young men and women. The men in the front lines of the air war were very young and died horrible deaths in order for the little island fortress to survive to fight another day.
They were outnumbered but with colleagues from all over the world who came to fight this visceral fight for freedom,they emerged, against all odds, Victorious.
It was a turning point in the lives of so many who realized at the end of this battle that they could fight on and though the days were dark and dangerous they had hope now to be lifted above the carnage and fight on.
They did so and so did all allies and at great cost in lives and treasure to secure our freedom and liberty for many years to come.
We were given a legacy to live and maintain.
Now it is our fight and fight we must.
Our fight is just as important and visceral though in different ways.
Just as global in it’s scope though more subtle in it’s execution this war must be won by not only one little country like Canada but all countries who value sovereignty and freedom of the individual to live their lives without interference and shackles of government to restrain innocent citizens around the world.
Our heroes have different names and are of different makeup but we do have our Churchills and our small fortress of fighters; ourselves and our small cadre from around the world who fly out into the space of human domain to ensure our safety and freedom while sacrificing their time , effort, money and emotional well being .
Without you all we would be bereft and quite without hope.
Thank you and God Bless you all!
@Furious: Queen Victoria said:
.
@FuriousAC My goodness … you brought tears to my eyes with your words.
@Wondering I do believe that you are right … I do believe that the story IS being suppressed … worldwide ….
@EmBee Thank you
@ALL Thank you all for leading / participating in this struggle for Freedom and Justice.
God Bless all.
Thanks for your wonderful words, FuriousAC.
@ FuriousAC
Yes the words are inspiring but having watched youtubes of David Irving’s assessment of Winston Churchill I don’t quite share your degree of admiration for this man. However, the important message here is that we have reached this mile post but we still have much farther to go so it’s essential to stay motivated. Our cause is just.
It was a tragedy that Canadians alone could not fund this litigation.
It was a blessing that Canadians alone could not fund this litigation.
@Embee
Since I do not see the comment on The Nation web site yet, I have emailed the comment directly to the author Mr Russell quijote70@gmail.com I hope that will help Mr Russell to gather additional data for further articles and lobbying in Barbados and around the Caribbean.
@Brik Tamland,
I used your words to send a message to those I thought might want to contemplate them:
Well said, George!
A Press Release is needed I think to note a) the raising of the $500,000 for legal fees and b) the hearing of the Summary Trial and c) the expected date that we might receive a ruling and d) determination to continue.
Great News! I hope this lawsuit can be used as a blueprint in other common law countries and give the next legal firm a head-start in terms of plaintiff and what is likely to be a Government’s defense. The more of the cases tried, the more expertise that is built up.