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The below is a Notice of Constitutional Question” just sent by Appellants Gwen and Kazia to alert Attorney Generals in all of the Canadian Provinces and Territories of our upcoming trial in Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal.

It provides a very brief summary of the arguments and the remedy our appellants want.

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“NOTICE OF CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION

The applicants challenge the constitutional validity of:

1. Sections 263-269 of the Income Tax Act R.S.C. 1985, c.1 (5th Supp.) and

2. The Canada-United-States Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement Implementation Act, which is s. 99 and Schedule 3 of the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No1, S.C. 2014, c.20

(Collectively the “Impugned Provisions”)

Further, the Applicants seek a remedy pursuant to s.52 of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada ACT (U.K.), 1982, c. 11 that the Impugned provisions are of no force or effect to the extent that they violate s. 8 of the Charter and cannot be saved by s.1.

The question is to be argued on a date to be set [Court is now deciding on the date]

The following are the material facts giving rise to the constitutional question:

1. The impugned provisions operate to compel banks to act as agents for the government in the collection of private information from people who the banks believe have indicia of US citizenship.

2. Those same people are compelled to provide private information to the banks.

3. That information is transmitted from the banks to the CRA and from the CRA to the IRS.

4. The IRS can use that information for the enforcement of its tax laws including for the prosecution of tax evasion.

5. The compelled collection and dissemination of this information is from persons who might never have lived in the United States, who might have citizenship to another country, and who might have no economic, social, familial, cultural or moral ties to the United States.

6. The purpose of the Impugned Provisions is simply to facilitate the interests of the US tax authority.

The following is the legal basis for the constitutional question, as elaborated in the Appellants’ Memorandum of Fact and Law attached to this Notice of Constitutional Question as Schedule A:

1. The privacy in the compelled information is constitutionally protected through section 8 of the Charter and the compelled collection and dissemination of that information constitutes an unreasonable seizure under section 8.

2. The trial judge erred in law in finding that the Impugned Provisions do not violate the rights guaranteed by section 8 of the Charter.

3. The trial judge erred in law by considering factors under the section 8 Charter determination which were irrelevant to that section and, instead, to be properly considered under section 1 of the Charter.”

Dated: March 22, 2021; sent to Attorney General of Canada (who we are suing) and the Attorney Generals of all of the Provinces and Territories of Canada