WITNESS SEARCH UPDATE FOR CANADIAN FATCA IGA LAWSUIT:
WE STILL SEEK MORE CANADIAN WITNESSES:
Have you experienced marital stress or breakup, or medical or psychiatric illness because Canada turned you and your family over to a foreign country — or because you were afraid and entered into IRS compliance and suffered harm, or because you are in “hiding” and can’t afford to be IRS compliant or to renounce? Be a witness.
No single witness will be “perfect” from a litigation point of view. We will be seeking more witnesses (almost) right up to the time of submission of court documents. Your specific situation, that we cannot predict, might have unique characteristics that would be helpful in the lawsuit.
If you cannot be a witness, please tell a friend who you think might be interested.
— If you are interested in becoming a witness You will describe your harm in a written affidavit which will be made public and you can contact me at stephen.kish.chair@adcs-adsc.ca See our website at www.adcs-adsc-ca
FOR THOSE CANADIANS WHO ALREADY VOLUNTEERED: Unless you have already been informed by me or by our legal team that you will not be a witness, there is still the possibility — or (for some) likelihood — that you will be asked to be a witness. I’m sorry but I cannot estimate the time it will take for our legal team to get back to you with their decision. This is because they need to “mesh” the characteristics of all of the necessary witnesses and testimonies with the actual detailed submission that contains the entirety of their evidence, which are all still evolving. Please be patient in our getting back to you with a decision. Thank you for your help.
In this post I am asking for more Canadian Witnesses for our lawsuit who have experienced emotional, social, employment, financial, or other harm caused by FATCA and who will describe the harm in an affidavit in Federal Court. The affidavit and name will be made public.
I have given just one (of many) possible examples of a type of witness:
“We are seeking a witness who has a reportable (non-RRSP) account >US$50,000 who has received a “FATCA letter” from the bank. The person might never have had any meaningful relationship with the United States other than being born in the U.S. Perhaps you are even a “border baby” living in Stanstead Quebec. You may have sought advice from a tax professional who advised you that the cost of IRS compliance (accountant costs, etc.) will be a significant portion of your assets — what you had planned to live on for your retirement. Like any human confronted with a vicious assault, you experienced emotional stress. Perhaps you now decided that you will not pay one Canadian penny to the tax consultant, U.S. IRS, or U.S. Department of State (to “renounce” what was imposed on you without your consent) because to do so would be unreasonable. Your emotions have now moved from “terror and tears” when you first discovered that Canada — your own country — actually passed a law that would turn you, a Canadian citizen, over to a foreign government, to the fullest appreciation that “I am a Canadian. Period.” — and you can now get through the day. You are ready to be a witness.”
— If interested in being a Witness please contact me at stephen.kish.chair@adcs-adsc.ca
In the post I also ask for help from the social media expert readers hoping that they will send out widely a request for witnesses.
Thank you Stephen for all your hard work. I hope more witnesses will indeed come forward now that the legal bill is paid in full. I can only say that volunteering to be a witness whether my case is useful or not has helped me feel less like a victim. Fighting this injustice is the only way forward.
@Cheryl, you have now come to the core of all this and have started to taking back control. Bravo and thanks, George
Cheryl, I second every word of your comment to Stephen. With this step of litigation now funded, we are ready to move forward when more brave witnesses can step up. My coming forward with my name and story a couple of years ago helped tremendously for me feeling less of a victim of this deemed-USC circumstance my family found itself in. I’m glad your volunteering to be a witness has helped you as well.
What does it mean exactly to ‘go public’ as a witness?
For example, will the list of witness names be published by ADCS? Or is it more a matter of risking that media, or US authorities, or Canadian FFIs with a little digging could find out who the witnesses are.
I think that if people really know what ‘going public’ entails that this may help with their decision as to volunteer or not.
I agree with Cheryl. Volunteering myself as a witness has liberated me from the frustration of feeling like a victim that can only come from finding the means to effectively fight back. As I’ve said in the past, as painful as it was to meet the tax obligations that the US has successfully imposed on me, it has at least removed the fear in me that non-compliance might bring. In other words, as someone who identifies as both a Canadian and American, I have no inhibitions whatsoever using my voice either side of the border – and therefore no reason not to do what simply needs to be done. It’s where I need to be. I just hope they’ll accept me!
Not2ndClass,
“Going public” means that your your name will be on an affidavit that will be be part of a submitted court document. The court document is a public document.
Any person willing to volunteer as a witness needs to appreciate that “going public” really means “going public” and it is best to assume that your name will be widely available to people who support you and those who do not and those who might want to do you harm.
@NOT2ndClass
Being a witness entails working with the lawyers who will take down your story and facts= circumstances.
Such as: we you born in Canada or the US? Did you acquire US taint via one or both of your parents. Are you a spouse of such a person etc.
Each of our fact situations may be a little different. Anyway, after the fact gathering process, the lawyer will then prepare your affidavit stating these facts and you swear by signing it, that is true. Your signature must be witnessed either by a notary ( B. C.) or a commissioner/barrister -solicitor in Ontario for instance. Attached to your sworn affidavit may be some exhibits, depending on your facts. i.e.: your birth certificate or other documents.
Later, when the trial documents are compiled and filed with the Court, your affidavit is included in the list of documents. At that point, technically they become available for public access. In some cases, the names and/or documents can be redacted with a court order to do so.
Lastly, there are three points to consider:
a) there is a slight possibility that you may be subject to being examined on the contents of your affidavit, including any exhibits attached, by the Government lawyers. That is their right, so you should know. I point out that as plaintiffs, neither Gwen and I were ever examined.
b) there is only the slightest possibility that you would ever have to take the stand to testify at trial, unlike the plaintiffs. Your affidavit ( and examination , if any) speaks for itself.
c) you are not going to be assessed any court costs even if our side should lose. Nor will you be awarded any costs if we win.
That’s the process basically but feel free to ask any questions and I will try my best to expand.
The BEST part of being a witness? You will be helping prove to the government you are a first class Canadian etc. and all our other legal arguments. Equally important , you will feel EMPOWERED by having done so.
haha I see Stephen and I were posting at the same time. Notice how wordy lawyers can be.
@George Thank you so much. Just to let you know, you personally have been a huge help to me…a real inspiration.
Something Canadian MP’s should be made aware of. From the RO France Facebook page:
BIG NEWS!!!!! FRANCE ESTABLISHES A COMMISSION TO EXAMINE THE US EXTRATERRITORIAL OVERREACH BY THE US GOVERNMENT ON ITS CITIZENS IN FRANCE
“(Inaugural meeting dated Wednesday 2 March 2016)
The commissions for foreign affairs and finances of the French Parliament (Assemblee Nationale) decided to form a joint fact finding mission regarding the extraterritoriality of certain US laws, which held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday 2 March 2016. The president of the mission is Mr Pierre Lelouche (Republican Party, Paris) and his rapporteur is Ms Karine Berger (Socialist Party, Hautes-Alpes).
Several recent events have highlighted the propensity of the US courts and the US administration to purport to impose sanctions against foreign corporations and foreign individuals in respect of events occurring outside of US territory: these range from the record penalty one of France’s largest banks agreed to pay to the US administration (for a failure to comply with a US imposed embargo) to the acquisition of Alstom by General Electric against a backdrop of anti-corruption claims brought by the US authorities against senior managers of Alstom and including the US IRS pursuing French citizens living in France but born on US soil and therefore “Accidental Americans” for US income taxes.
Based on the feedback of a wide array of experts, the fact finding mission will attempt to define the contours of US extraterritoriality, exhaustively identify all cases of extraterritorial application of US laws, assess their impact and in particular their impact on fair competition and the economic losses suffered by French companies as a result, and to study ways in which to counter such practices both at a national and European level.
The mission hopes that its findings will lead to concrete implementation measures. The longstanding and deep ties that exist between France and the US in no way justify that the US should seek to assert legal imperium outside of its borders.rger rapporteur (Socialist, Republican and citizen, Hautes-Alpes).”
ENGLISH TRANSLATION IN THE FIRST COMMENT. http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/missions-d-information/missions-d-information-communes/mission-d-information-commune-sur-l-extraterritorialite-de-certaines-lois-des-etats-unis/a-la-une/reunion-constitutive-du-mercredi-2-mars-2016
Awesome!!! It’s about time. How can we best get the attention of the liberal government and NDP about this?
Thanks, Bubblebustin for the great catch. This is the kind of news I have been hoping and waiting for. May there be a huge swell of other countries doing the same. This extra territoriality tax invasion and transfer of national wealth has to come to a stop. Vive la France. I am not surprised they are taking this step.
One of my dreams is to read a long list of countries that, having realized the impact, deciding either separately or collectively to just SAY NO the USA, the only country with CBT.
I’ve just informed my MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this development in France.
Would others do the same?
Pam.Goldsmith-Jones.C1@parl.gc.ca
@ brockers.. hooray!! vive la france!! one more reason to vote “in” in the june 23 referendum!!
Stephen, would it be worthwhile to send a summary and link to the French commission on U.S. territoriality to your CBC contacts?
Lets see if Canada is still too stupid to realize what our bad neighbor to the south is trying to do….
The response of Government to Mr. Dusseault’s January 21 2016 Q35 FATCA questions in Canadian Parliament.
It appears from the Parliament Clerk (very helpful) that there HAS been a response, but that the response will not automatically be published in the Journal tonight. Instead, the response has been sent by internal mail to M. Dusseault.
I was also told that there is nothing “sinister” in this way of responding to written questions…
— Just spoke to Mr. Dusseault’s assistant who will send me the Q35 response when received.
[In Parliament at the moment Government is repeating “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” over and over again re: Citizenship law….]
While I understand the search for people directly harmed by the IGA, it would seem that the fact that the very structure of the IGA carries great POTENTIAL for invasion of privacy and infringement on Sec 15 should carry weight. For example, you don’t really have to be a “US person” to have your information forwarded by some bank clerical error, or in the case of a high value account, forwarded by a relationship manager that thinks you “might” be a US person. The wording in the IGA, “actual knowledge”, means what? Bank employees are not citizenship experts, and if reporting you means safeguarding their job, they will err on the side of caution, and out goes your information.
Welcome news @Bubblebustin re http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/missions-d-information/missions-d-information-communes/mission-d-information-commune-sur-l-extraterritorialite-de-certaines-lois-des-etats-unis/a-la-une/reunion-constitutive-du-mercredi-2-mars-2016 ! Wondering what Victoria’s take on it might be. Has anyone spoken to her about it? If you do, tell her we would welcome a Flophouse post about it, with her usual thoughtful insights. And perhaps she may read and follow any coverage in the French media that we would have more trouble finding and interpreting.
So many things to celebrate today! The disappearance of the thermometer, adding Cheryl to the witness list (thank you, Cheryl!) and a commission in France to examine US over-reach! The French government has listened to its citizens on this issue. Where the hell is Canada? My MP will be hearing from me (with a copy to Pam Goldsmith-Jones right after I finish reading the day’s news at Brock. Thanks for the info, Bubblebustin.
Another piece paved on the road to the end of CBT!
@Badger
I sent your post to Victoria. Great suggestion.
@MuzzledNoMore
Most of the thanks should really go to Keith Redmond, but you’re welcome.
bubblebustin,
Copied your MP (and many others) on a message to Kent Hehr, Calgary Liberal MP, who said he would represent all Calgarians – have yet to hear anything from him on any messages sent to him since Liberals took office, but I did just get this from Pam Goldsmith-Jones’ office, none from any others.
Canada should have led on saying NO way from the very start but here we are again, perhaps or perhaps not, playing catch-up or copy-cat to what other countries with more backbone do first.
Thank you, Calgary411. Mine got a similar response. I was welcomed to drop into my MP’s office sometime on my way through Horseshoe Bay. I think Deanna and I should look each other in the the eye.
Bubblebustin,
Thanks — Government has argued that the world embraces FATCA. I have sent your link, which might suggest otherwise in the case of France, on to our litigators.