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.
@WhiteKat – It’s like John Richardson always says – that Canada and the rest of the world decided to Commit suicide in order to avoid being murdered! (By signing on to FATCA)
@GeorgeIII
What Ms Mitra is referring to is a specific law. I do not see why that is an automatic jump to assuming there is an actual law that says Paypal must turn over the names of Canadian customers for no reason.
There was a reason that transaction was flagged. It didn’t come out of thin air.
As for the other issue, a list of who commented, again there was a reason for it. Anonymous writers made comments that were of a threatening nature. I realize we have no assurance of anything these days however, it is important to use one’s discernment and notice whether or not two situations are the same. The reason may seem overblown however it is difficult to gauge whether offhand statements represent real violence or not.
There simply are no grounds for the US to request a list of donors from Paypal. We have no tax or reporting requirement to the US. And we are compliant with the appropriate laws required by the Not-For-Profit Act as well as CRA that do apply to us in Canada. As far as I know, there is no law that says we may not accept donations; nor is there one to say we cannot accept donations for a lawsuit.
It is not that your information is not appreciated GeorgeIII, we understand where you are coming from. However, it is not helpful when other points of view are more or less “dismissed” by comments indicating anything beyond accepting the content outright is a waste of your time. And again, is the value of this information enough to justify a negative effect on donations?
Right Tricia – again people – there is NOTHING ILLEGAL in donating to our cause and therefore no reason that anyone can just demand our list of donors because they “don’t like us”
The only way to stop the fear is to take action against it, George #3. Sit in a corner and cower you stay there scared and forever terrified.That is just where the govt wants you. Donate to the cause for the love of God and Country. We have intelligent people fighting for us. A committed group of people and thus I say to George the 3rd get over it and get scared straight. You’ll have a lot to loose if you don’t.
I have already suggested to the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Nova Scotia that they should jaw-bone Raul Castro into adopting the Cuban peso and Canadian dollar instead of the Cuban peso and the U.S.A. dollar. Vendors worldwide would do business in canadian dollars which they could exchange for whatever they wanted.
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. (Rosa Parks)
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
“Always do what you are afraid to do.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Stop fearing fear. Do what must be done. Or don’t.
Too many people have too many excuses for not donating– leaving too few to fund something so important. I hope you (and others) will find a way of doing what you are afraid to do.
@Blaze – Hear hear!!
@GeorgeIII
We all know the US and IRS are on a fishing expedition. And we all know they use fear as a weapon. That doesn’t mean we need to act or react out of fear. I’ll donate to ACDS any way I want to. There is no need for you to bother with this anymore.
@GwEvil and all
I agree the USA is on its way down the drain. We don’t know the timeline but the direction is clear. Today in my local paper there is something about embracing other emerging currencies. This would allow business transactions to bypass the almighty US dollar.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Opinion+tool+benefit+Canadians+every+sector/11138270/story.html
Canada was designated in November as the first renminbi trading and clearing centre, also known as a hub, in the Americas. The hub was launched in March, enabling businesses all across the Americas to clear and settle transactions directly in renminbi.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Opinion+tool+benefit+Canadians+every+sector/11138270/story.html#ixzz3dGcXReiD
I still get fearful now and then but much less often than before ADCS was created. Facing a FATCA future without the reassurance that something substantial was being done to fight back would have meant that those fearful feelings would have grown to overwhelming proportions. Everyone has to ask themselves how bad would it be for you right now if you were dealing with an unchallenged FATCA with only the “help” of a compliance condor and the conflicting, confusing information drawn from an IRS website. Any paypal fears should register quite low in comparison.
It’s not a fear, just a worry, that our donations will fall short and we will let down two brave plaintiffs and the hard-working funding and legal teams behind them. We can’t let that happen. We can’t let fear get in the way.
Conquer FEAR by donating to http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/ as often as you can and standing up for your rights — there are many ways to do so if PayPal is not for you!
I am thankful for the information GeorgeIII provided. Not because I am afraid, but because I just won’t do business with US controlled companies if I have a choice.
Buh bye Amazon.ca, Google.ca.
NB:
“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything.”
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
– both attributed to Winston Churchill
@all
very inspiring.Thanks for offering these wonderful words.
I have donated by withdrawing cash from the ATM and walking across the street to Shopper’s Drug Mart which has a Canada Post. I purchased a money order and mailed it. I used my real name to buy the money order… after all the bank doesn’t know what I did with that cash. And I’m tired of feeling fearful! Tired of the stress! Right now to be very honest, a cell in solitary doesn’t sound so bad! I haven’t donate lately(no money) but planned to send a money order tomorrow. Thanks Tricia being the voice of reason and for the time you spent to answer my emails when I was feeling scared. You have been a comfort.
Based on Exhibit 1
https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Exhibit-1-Explanation-of-Reason-Account-Holder-Does-Not-Possess-a-Certificate-of-Loss-of-Nationality-Despite-Having-Relinquished-U.S.-Citizenship.pdf
It looks like poll workers qualify under 4 a.
@Tom Alciere – you know, your idea is actually quite a smart little plan. I think everyone in Canada under threat of being accused of being a “US person” should do exactly what you propose and sign up as poll workers for the next election and thereafter check off box #2 under the “reasonable explanation” section at the bank. Bonus outcome: being a part of the “heave Steve in 2015” movement on the ground.
Does every FATCA IGA around the world have a similar “reasonable explanation” clause in it? Can every “US person” around the world do the same?
@Tom Alciere @GwEvil
The IGA allows for a reasonable explanation as why you no longer consider yourself a USP. Me thinks that Canadian banks will allow the benefit of the doubt (a hunch on my part, based not on fact but on my assumptions about business and human nature) – that is unless someone or something throws the fear of God into them. But seriously, if you can let someone off the hook, why not if it keeps a customer and saves the bank a lot of work?
Could a ‘reasonable explanation’ be: “the dog ate my CLN”?
There is another reason the ADCS action will prevail.
Bravery trumps cowardice. And fortune favors the brave.
The defendants are brave, their supporters are brave, and their chief lawyer has consistently taken on unpopular underdog positions and prevailed.
In contrast, the Harper Cons are cowards – despite their militaristic rhetoric and saber-rattling.
Harper and his cronies make a big deal of so-called military strength: the photo ops on frigates and with military hardware, the expensive armed forces recruiting commercials, the sadly impotent posturing against Putin.
But when a foreign state demanded capitulation under threats of extortion, and assistance in extracting tribute from Canadian citizens, Harper’s cronies tucked tails between legs and folded.
They stripped Canadian citizens of financial privacy rights, based upon unlawful national origin discrimination, because the US demanded it.
Nowhere is the character of the Harper government more clearly manifest than its facilitation of a $14 billion dollar military arms deal with Saudi Arabia: selling armored vehicles to a despotic regime whose justice system routinely tortures and beheads prisoners, jails and lashes political dissidents, and institutionalizes misogyny and oppression of women. Shameful!
As a transcitizen who underwent a successful Canadian citizenship ceremony almost 40 years ago, thereby transforming myself from an American to a Canadian, I urge all trans of whatever type or location to donate to ADCS. You can transmit your donation electronically or by mail.
The drawback to signing up as a poll worker is that you cannot campaign against the Conservatives on election day. Kinda like the umpire who cannot root for the Blue Jays. So far as I know, only the Green Party is on record against FATCA.
If you apply for a CLN you are only admitting that you once were a U.S. citizen. If you apply to renounce, you are admitting you are still a U.S. citizen. If you work at the polls you aren’t admitting anything at all.
@Tom Alciere – that’s why all one would do is sign up to be a poll worker and then after that check off the “why I’m not a US citizen” ‘reasonable explanation’ box at the Canadian bank so one can live life normally at home without getting hassled and ignore the United States altogether.
@PatCanadian – I can’t wait to see how things pan out with the new renminbi trading situation. That’s definitely one step (among many others) toward the demise of the US dollar domination 🙂
Check out this little blog:
http://www.businessgyan.com/b/fatca_boon_or_pain
guess there is going to be a bunch of us working the polling places eh?