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.
@TheMom, Right back at you ! You have been making some awesome comments at CMF. I hope Snub is still reading.
FATCA is an attack on Canadian sovereignty. The first lawsuit in the world being funded through ADCS.
Ginny’s message to Congress.
Stephen Kish aims to kill the IGA through the lawsuit.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/243799-fatca-is-an-attack-on-canadian-sovereignty
Excellent article Lynne!
@ Blaze – great piece and great placement! I wish we had some way of knowing whether this or other articles there make any difference. But one thing at a time. Right now, Vancouver here we come – – and the world is watching!
I’m so glad to see that mercury rising in our funding thermometer. Although our court dates are still two months away, there are 16 people who have committed to attend the proceedings in Federal Court. Donations need to be a priority. I hope more will let me know if they are able to come to Vancouver on August 4-5 so we can have a show of support as well. Please contact me if you can attend at patcanadian2015@gmail.com.
Here are some food options in Vancouver area to go along with lodging and transit previously posted:
Food options in downtown Vancouver are endless. This includes the area near the Federal Court at 701 Georgia Street. Please see map link below to get some idea as there are too many to list:
https://www.google.ca/maps/search/restaurants+vancouver+downtown/@49.2825889,-123.1220282,15z
Some examples of LESS EXPENSIVE spots include:
The Pacific Centre Mall Food Court, located at 701 West Georgia Street, is next to the court. It is on the lower level and has many budget choices.
There are many ethnic eateries (Greek, Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, Mexican etc.) along with traditional spots (Tim Horton, White Spot, etc.) all within easy walking distance near court area. Prices are usually posted and quite reasonable.
For those staying at UBC, dining is a bit more limited. Here is a link to places to eat at UBC:
http://www.food.ubc.ca/ubc-food-services/places-to-eat/
I stayed at UBC for a conference and we all ate at Totem Park Dining Room. It was reasonably priced and there was quite a variety including vegetarian/organic options.
http://www.food.ubc.ca/place/totem-park-dining-room/
Food options for those staying in Richmond:
https://www.google.ca/maps/search/restaurants+in+richmond+bc/@49.174156,-123.1200074,13z
Richmond Centre Mall located at 6551 No. 3 Road in Richmond has a large food court, the Dining Terrace, on the upper level with lots of reasonably priced food:
http://www.richmondcentre.com/en/TheDiningTerrace/Pages/default.aspx
I read the governments response
Lets face it adcs is simply plain folk largely lower middle class
This government is ready and eager to stomp on the people
Blaze was right very early on
Yayyyy, Blaze! Fabulous article in the Hill with wonderful, hard-hitting quotes from our two plaintiffs!
Blaze had to edit my quotes to the printable ones 😉
I have put up a couple of “ads” for ADCS on Ottawa Kijiji. The number of “views” has not been high, but I figure it’s free, and if one out of a hundred views turns into a supporter, it is worth the trouble. Just a reminder of this avenue for reaching people.
Stephen Kish posted an update earlier today which I’m sure Jack It’s-The-Law Townsend didn’t like too much but I love it and thank the commenter, whoever he/she may be:
Good thing this comment was posted here because I want to stay clear of that site which seems dedicated to trumpeting old and new federal tax crimes the Congress and IRS have conjured up and itemizing the penalties for said crimes. Personally I think It’s a crime to criminalize for the sake of filling up the US treasury coffers. IMHO it’s an international economic war crime to extract the wealth of those who live outside the borders of the USA and to use the threat of sanctions to force their banks into becoming accomplices to this crime.
@Brockers, let me bring your attention to the Treasury Explanation of the Convention between the US and UK……
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/teus-uk.pdf
Item of interest on page 5;
“(5) Article 25 (Non-Discrimination) requires one Contracting State to grant national treatment to nationals of the other Contracting State in certain circumstances. Excepting this Article from the saving clause requires, for example, that the United States give such benefits to a national of the United Kingdom even if that person is a citizen of the United States.”
Look at all the press about Bruce Jenner, who didn’t like the “mistake” of being assigned the “wrong” sex at birth. Compare that to persons who were assigned the “wrong” citizenship at birth.
They let Bruce Jenner do his thing and call himself a woman. What if I don’t like being a U.S. citizen? The bureaucrats in Ottawa won’t let me become a Canadian.
@Embee and Stephen Kish – WELL SAID!!!!!
Mr/Ms Jenner is a dual.
I just thought of something. Here in the U.S.A. there is this title known as notary public, plural notaries public. These are persons who make documents fancy by notarising them, which attests that the signature is not a forgery and if an oath is indicated, was made. This title is fairly straightforward to obtain from the governor’s office, and it makes the person a government official. An oath or affirmation is required to become one. Is this similar to Canada? Maybe it varies from one province to another. But if it is doable, the Canadian citizen, by making the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, thereby relinquishes U.S. citizenship, according to U.S. law. This can be useful for the ones who have been tricked into obtaining a U.S. passport because now they can give it back and get a CLN without tax compliance.
I am Canadian, and I’d like my government to start acting like they are too.
@tomalclere
In most of the world a notary requires a specialist degree and literally several years of notary education at university
But the country you reference is exceptional in the world of notaries
Dash if you are around for the next week or so let me know as I will write something that may ask you to use your special skills to help people. In addition on a short issue how easy would it be for US government, if they use a John Doe warrant, to obtain a list of paypal payment? Please note I am not interested in political (academic) debates.
@George
I will be around.
@GeorgeII
But I would add that–just as you don’t want to get involved in political/academic debates–I prefer not to get involved in a paranoid discussion about the risks of a particular type of payment (eg paypal). If I did that I would never donate again–and I want to continue donating. There are risks involved with all methods of donating–even sending anonymous cash in the mail–but I choose to take such risks in part because the risks I’m taking as a donor are miniscule compared to the risks that the plaintiffs are taking and I want to support the plaintiffs. End of discussion at least from my perspective regarding paypal warrants.
However if you have something else to discuss (it sounds like you do) I’m happy to do so.
Also–I’m around this week but won’t be online much next week.
GeorgeIII
I believe you have commented before suggesting that anyone who donates via paypal may have their identity compromised. I do not think you provided any particular evidence or information to justify that. And once again, you are now suggesting that the IRS could issue a John Doe summons. Are you intentionally trying to interfere with people donating to ADCS-ADSC? Do you even consider the effects of your words? We most definitely share information here in order to help protect expats but over time, I do think we try to keep it realistic without resorting to the fear-mongering we see from the tax compliance community. It is hard enough to deal with as it is..
If I were a US Person (which I am not), I would be required to report the Paypal account on a FBAR since this is a Canadian Paypal account. That suggests to me, that the IRS would have to go through the Canadian court system in order to execute any summons. I cannot see that happening very easily and certainly not quickly.
Yay! and thank you to today’s new contributor. Thank you for getting the thermometer going again.
Not to stray too far off the main topic here, i.e., Please Donate, here’s a discussion on PayPal and FBAR from Serbinski in 2012, probably one of several places this other topic has come up. Last line: “Paypal is not a foreign account.”
http://forums.serbinski.com/viewtopic.php?p=26946&sid=0ae651a9ed058ec67f9f63cd24c5b07e
I donate by Interac email transfer (Canada). Almost instantaneous, and I receive an email notification that it has been retrieved by the hard-working team.
My bank already knows I’m pretty ripped about this, I shoot my mouth off about it every time I’m in there. 😀 No one has come knocking at my door. If they did, I’d invite them in for a coffee, and ask them for a donation. ;). Coffee ain’t free for the three letter, US agencies, though. Cash up front, baby.
I’ve donated thru PayPal and will continue to do so. As a Canadian citizen residing in Canada, my contributions to this uniquely “Made In Canada” lawsuit are completely lawful.
The lawsuit has been filed and a court date is set. An attempt by a foreign state to threaten, harass, discourage or otherwise interfere with ADCS fundraising could be constructively considered an act of tampering or obstruction of justice.
So screw ’em … the best defence is a good offense … I will continue to donate funds legally earned in Canada using my lawful PayPal account.
At some point you have to make a personal stand against discrimination. It is impossible to do that anonymously. Rosa Parks refused racial discrimination … Delwin Vriend refused sexual orientation discrimination … and the Famous Five feminist suffragettes refused gender discrimination. We have it easy: a button on a website, an email money transfer.
Imagine if, in 1935, the Jewish citizens of Germany had a similar opportunity to oppose the hateful Nuremberg Laws that institutionalized discrimination based upon nationality and stripped them of German citizenship and economic rights. Well, if you are a Canadian of US nationality or descent, bill C-31 dissolved some of YOUR citizenship rights, because of where you were born, or where your parents were born.
C-31 is the ONLY Canadian law that affects the rights of certain Canadians based SOLELY upon place of birth.
It might be worth the so-called risk of using PayPay to fight back. Consider what is at stake.
The August summary trial is as opportunity to get media attention and boost fundraising.
It will shine a light on this sordid affair … and our government’s cowardly capitulation to a foreign state’s unlawful demands.
It would be nice if more of the estimated HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of so-called “US persons residing in Canada” chipped in a few dollars each!