[We now have a NEW POST taking us up to February 1, 2015. This post will be retired from service.]
THE AUTUMN 2014 UPDATE
Dear Donors,
Together, we reached our goal of $100,000 to pay the November 1 legal bill 11 days ahead of schedule!
Thank you Canadian donors from coast to coast and our friends from around the world for your generosity, support and determination — and especially for not being afraid.
The name of our non-profit corporation is the “Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty.”
We were very deliberate in including in our name the word “sovereignty”, which forms a cornerstone of our Claims against the Government of Canada.
Canada and dozens of other countries throughout the world gave into a bully because their “leaders” were afraid of harm caused by a trading “partner” — and they gave their sovereignties away.
Help us convince by example the Leaders and Governments of all countries worldwide that they should return their sovereignties back to their Peoples.
Please continue to support our lawsuit.
“Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” (Helen Keller)
— Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, and the ADCS-ADSC team
Chers donateurs,
Ensemble, nous avons atteint notre but d’amasser 100 000 $ pour payer notre facture légale du 1er novembre 11 jours d’avance !
Un gros merci à vous, donateurs canadiens, et à nos amis de tous les coins du monde pour votre grande générosité, soutien et détermination. Et surtout pour votre courage.
Le nom de notre organisme sans but lucratif est « l’Alliance pour la défense de la souveraineté canadienne ».
Nous avons choisi délibérément le mot « souveraineté » puisqu’il constitue la base fondamentale de nos revendications envers le gouvernement du Canada.
Le Canada et des dizaines d’autres pays se sont pliés devant l’intimidation des États-Unis parce que leurs « leaders » ont eu peur des menaces de notre « partenaire » commercial. Ils ont donc vendu leur souveraineté à rabais.
Aidez-nous à convaincre les dirigeants et les gouvernements de tous ces pays qu’ils se doivent de remettre leur souveraineté à leurs peuples.
S’il vous plaît, continuez à soutenir notre cause.
« Seuls, nous pouvons faire si peu. Ensemble, nous pouvons faire beaucoup. » (Helen Keller)
— Ginny, Gwen et toute l’équipe de l’ADCS-ADSC
DONATE to www.adcs-adsc.ca (ADSC en français).
Superb letter Mr. A
I just learned Mike Sullivan was born in the United States from a list another Brocker sent to me.
I found this interview with Catherine Clark (daughter of Maureen McTeer and Joe Clark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N_nUFNOeOs
Mr. Sullivan was born in Detroit, but moved to Windsor with his family when he was five. His mother went to Detroit to give birth to a younger sibling three weeks after the move (What a curse that may be!)
He says his parents were always interested in American politics. He also says they always voted NDP when he was young. That likely means he became a Canadian citizen with his family when he was a minor–and we know what that means. If that is the case, the US Department of State will not accept consider that relinquishing through naturalization as a Canadian.
He could probably make a case for relinquishment because he’s an elected MP. However, he was not elected until 2011–well after 2004.
He worked for the CBC from 1974-1984, so that might count as a relinquishing act, but we don’t know if he has made that case or if he even knows he should.
Someone needs to talk to him. Do you think he realizes he personally is caught in this trap? Is anyone in his riding? (York Sout-Weston).
Very moving, Mr A. Thank you.
@ Blaze
Whatever Mike Sullivan’s justifications for not being eligible for a US citizen tag (and he should not be tagged as such), he still has that “Born in the USA” matter to deal with as far his financial institutions are concerned. No wonder he spoke so well in the HofC debate. He understands.
Blaze and Em and others,
MP Mike Sullivan was contacted way, way back — he had MP Murray Rankin call me at my home in the last half year. The rest we have seen.
https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/01/31/appreciated-conversation-with-honourable-mike-sullivan-ndp-fellow-us-person-in-canada-reasonable-cause-certificates-of-loss-of-nationality-etc/
and
https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/01/26/my-further-correspondence-with-one-of-our-canadian-ndp-members-of-parliament/
@ calgary411
Thanks for the links to those 2012 threads (before my arrival here). Fascinating. I’m watching the video of Mike Sullivan being interviewed by Catherine Clark (my goodness, I remember when she was born).
Interesting that the honourable member is originally from the Windsor-Detroit area given the recent mention of the classic Gordon Lightfoot song “Black Day in July” in this thread. Seems to me that with that song Gordon–his surname notwithstanding–recognized that it was time to put his foot down regarding USG abuses. I hope ADCS/ADSC is ready to do the same.
Stephen: Thanks for having all that information about the Bill C-13 court case at your fingertips. It was interesting to see the history of the case laid out from start to finish. Thanks also for your thoughts on the type of funding that may have been behind it. Legal aid for a criminal case like that certainly makes sense. It’s ironic that such funding is available for people who have been accused of truly heinous crimes but our upstanding, law-abiding community whose only crime is having some former association with the United States has to dig down into its own piggy-banks to pay for this nonsense.
Mr. A: Bravo, Bravo, and BRAVO again for your marvelous letter to the Conservative MPs. You have spoken for every one of us here. Thank you! I think it would be wonderful if every senator could have a copy of this letter along with a plea that the Senate veto Bill C-31 as currently constituted. We still have a chance to stop the FATCA implementation act from becoming law. Your eloquence would be a valuable tool in this final attack. Thank you again!
Muzzled,
I was waiting for a reader to make your point.
Yes, money from donors is the only way for us to move to litigation. You can imagine the responsibility all of us have to make this happen, knowing that Canadians are supporting our cause with their pension cheques.
The following was distributed to the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association to their members
======================================================
From: U of S Faculty Association [mailto:usfa@usaskfaculty.ca]
Sent: June-13-14 10:52 AM
To: U of S Faculty Association
Subject: USFA e-Letter: To members who are US citizens or otherwise have connections with the US:
A class action Charter challenge is being launched against the Canada-US agreement implementing the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in Canada. Information is available from the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty at:
http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/
That is fabulous, NorthernShrike. We need to make every Canadian higher institution of learning aware of the Charter Challenge by encouraging the same information be included in newsletters to their members. An excellent tool for advocacy and awareness.
NorthernShrike,
THANK YOU!!
Readers: Some of you are faculty or faculty emeritus at colleges and universities in Canada and in other countries and many have a “U.S. connection” — or just care about privacy rights.
Please try to convince your faculty association to mention the ADCS-ADSC legal challenge in your newsletter.
NorthernShrike teaches us that it can be done.
The brokerage arms of the banks are asking all new account applicants if they are ‘US persons’(Continued)
ScotiaMcLeod information update June 2014
I am cross-posting here the start of a discussion — another family that should be protected by this, our Canadian government. I hope you will read Devon’s story (she found out about her US tax compliance responsibility from one of the Big 5 Canadian banks for which she is works:
https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/expat_tax/comment-page-74/#comment-2018275
@Calgary: Thanks for that link from the very early days. It was interesting reading the comments from over two years ago.
@Calgary: Do you know if that is required by all the banks investment arms or just Scotia at this point?
We should not have to answer any questions about citizenship, but on the question are you a citizen of Canada, USA or Other Country, most of us could honestly answer Canada. However, the next question on “US person” is very disturbing. It includes anyone born in United States, but makes no reference to relinquishing or renouncing US citizenship. A lot of people who do not know about this issue yet could get caught in the dragnet very easily by answering “Yes” simply because they were born in the US without understanding the consequences.
Those are very similar to the questions Johnnb got from ScotiaMcLeod–and they have had a copy of his CLN for two years!
@Em: We’re showing our age, but I also remember when Catherine Clark was born (Justin Trudeau, too!).
I laughed at Catherine’s absolute shock when Mike Sullivan told her his parents talked about building a bomb shelter during the 1950s. I think most of us who grew up in the US in that era had parents who talked about it–but I only ever knew one family who did it. We just had canned goods in our basement in case we needed to hide out there from a nuclear attack from the Russians.
We also had air raid drills at school where we all ducked under our desks as cover from those nuclear bombs that the Russians were sure to drop on us. Like those desks would protect us!
Who would have ever thought today as we are seniors or close it it that we would be terrorized by the US simply because we choose to live somewhere else?
On the subject of Catherine Clark’s parents, I remember what a huge issue it was when Joe Clark was elected leader of the Conservatives (1975 I think) and Maureen McTeer was a lawyer who hadn’t changed her name to her husband’s. I recall some people saying “If he can’t control his own wife, how can he run the country?”
Last week, Ontario elected a gay female Premier who raised hands on stage with her own wife. During the campaign, I didn’t hear one word about Kathleen Wynne’s gender or sexual orientation. I think that’s an example of how far we’ve come.
Hopefully, our legal challenge will mean that FATCA will one day be history, too.
No, I don’t know, Blaze, but I wouldn’t be surprised if others do the same to protect their behinds. (Related: https://blogs.oracle.com/financialservices/entry/fatca_compliant_prove_it / interesting read of something aimed at the financial industry), ending with:
I got that “information update” sheet by email — received by a ScotiaMcLeod client for update of information and return. Note that the form is for existing account(s), not just new account(s).
Calling for information from anyone who receives such an update form from the investment arm of their financial institution…
Does anyone know if the senators only choice is either to reject or accept Bill C-31in total or can they reject parts of it like Part 5 (FATCA implementation section)?
Em, your question is a good one. Not being one who knows (or even cares at this point), I just went for it and sent the following to all Canadian Senators and to all journalists that had previously interviewed me. I incorporated the powerful email that Mr. A sent to Conservative MPs. I can only hope that Senators will read and really think about this issue, as they have last kick at it.
Subject: My plea / my last attempt, asking Canadian Senators to take implementation of the US FATCA IGA out of Bill C-31
I am but a 70-year-old Canadian, naturalized in 1975 as I chose Canada the country I wanted to live, work, raise my family, pay my taxes and be a part of society. I try to speak for my son and others like him who are ‘accidental Americans’ with a mental incapacity that prevents their renunciation of automatic (never registered for) US citizenship.
Below is the video link* and **an email letter that was sent from someone yesterday, discussing just one aspect of what will happen to Canadian-born who are deemed US Persons, only one reason to remove from omnibus Bill C-31 implementation of the US FATCA IGA buried there, without proper study and a separate bill on its own merit. I will leave it to others to provide formal submissions; mine is informal, but I hope that each of you Canadian Senators charged to protect the rights of ALL Canadians will take the time to review what I send to you:
*http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Parlvu/TimeBandit/PowerBrowser_SilverLight.aspx?ContentEntityId=11957&EssenceFormatID=444&date=20140611&lang=en is a video of part of yesterday’s Parliamentary session. Starting at about 8:09:00 – NDP MP Mike Sullivan is trying to explain my son’s US tax situation over the heckling of some Conservative MPs.
From the author of the email below:
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Tapanila
Calgary, AB, Canada
@ calgary411
Good stuff (as always). I don’t know what the key is that would unlock the consciences of the senators but yours has to be pretty close to the right fit. I’m going to think a bit more on this and like my FINA “brief” it will take a few days to put something together. I’m almost considering doing an individual mailing like I once did with all of the MPs — this one would be one third that number so not so bad. I’m going to try to keep it short and that makes it even more difficult. It sounds like you think the Senate can actually remove Part 5 from the bill. That would certainly be a good thing. I still hope someone can answer my question though. @Tim perhaps?
http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=6483626&View=0
Anyone but me for the answer, Em. I am just groping and wishing and hoping some adults in the government can step up and be in charge of change that makes common sense for Canada and its people. Truth is, I have no idea if the Senators could pull Part 5 from the bill.
…and, honestly, I wanted them to read Mr. A’s words.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers would reach most academics in Canada. Unfortunately, I am not a member and have no contacts there.
But someone reading your comment will, NorthernShrike. Thanks for your comment!
Blaze: Thank you for your marvelous reminder that yesterday’s laws and social mores can and do end up on history’s scrapheap. FATCA *and* CBT *will* go there too! I consider it an honour, albeit a very uncomfortable one at the moment, to be one of the footsoldiers in the army that will put them there!