WE NEED MORE WITNESSES WILLING TO FILE AFFIDAVITS IN OUR CANADIAN FATCA IGA LAWSUIT:
U.S.-born Canadian citizens, your bank knows that you were born in the U.S. because you provided this information, never IRS compliant, no meaningful history with U.S. except by birth in U.S., never U.S voting, never U.S. passport, never relinquished, but you must have a FATCA reportable account >U.S.$ 50,000
Reportable accounts can be, for example, non-registered investment accounts — but CANNOT be RRSP, RESP, RDSP, TFSA etc. registered accounts. We also seek witnesses who have accounts less than $50,000 U.S. but who know or suspect e.g. from a bank FATCA letter that their account info has inappropriately been turned over to CRA/IRS. You will describe your harm in a written affidavit which will be made public. If interested contact stephen.kish.chair@adcs-adsc.ca See our website at www.adcs-adsc-ca
Continue reading CANADIAN FATCA IGA LITIGATION: We need IRS NON-COMPLIANT Canadian Witnesses with FATCA REPORTABLE ACCOUNTS > $US 50,000 →

Dear Supporters,
Many of you probably predicted that I would not be saying this today, but this message is not a dream: You came up with yet another $100,000 payment — now making a total of $400,000 provided to the Arvay team.
In the last twelve days you actually donated more than $40,000 — an amazing achievement for small donors. This accomplishment proves to all those people who want us to fail — that we are very determined.

You gave until it hurt and then you gave a lot more. It’s hard not to get teary-eyed over the generosity of our supporters, who have come through every time.

We know that the pace of your litigation is painfully slow, and this is unfortunately as expected. The Government will continue to do its best to slow down the process, but we now have the assistance of a case management judge to help keep the process moving more fairly.
We filed in August 2014 and it has taken a very long time (one year) before we are finally into a (summary) trial (August 4-5, 2015). We cannot predict the outcomes of this trial, based on only part of our arguments and, with your continued support, we will prepare for all possibilities.
[Happy birthday Gwen!]
Thank you for your trust,
Stephen Kish,
ADCS-ADSC Chair,
— on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, their families, and the ADCS-ADSC Directors

Continue reading Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit: May 1, 2015 legal bill will be paid on time! / Poursuite canadienne contre la FATCA et le gouvernement canadien : nos frais légaux du 1er mai 2015 seront payés à temps ! →

An anonymous donor who contributed to the ADCS lawsuit sent me a long letter. It contained these words:

“I can feel the fatigue in our small team, but please forward my words of encouragement: We are the only ones fighting FATCA [‘…the most arrogant piece of illegal, immoral and evil overreach by any foreign — yes, America happens to be foreign to the rest of the world…’] and CBT and any injury we can do to it will crack it open and show how evil it is inside. If we stop, nobody will do it.”

He/she describes some of the harm:

“I also join a small testimony how all this affected my family.
My mother, the only one with a hint of a long faded American accent, is scared of talking in public. She hasn’t had access to a bank account in three years, she cannot be associated with any of our businesses and cannot even be named on any of the assets she should be entitled to. She has become a non-person and so would we if our very dirty secret was discovered. Because of the fear of her place of birth being noticed at the U.S. immigration, we missed the funerals of her four closest relatives, including her parents.
[Bold in original:] Let me repeat this: my mother wasn’t present at her parents’ funerals because she feared it might destroy the life of her husband and children!“

…and the extreme anger:

“We used to be the best Ambassadors for America. We always found an excuse when the wretched country trampled human rights, invaded foreign countries, manipulated the markets, or just crashed the World economy. Now, we hate it with so much rage that we can’t ever forgive it. I personally swear never to go there again, never buy American again and systematically oppose the will of the US in my private life and professional and [xxxxx] careers. I would rather catch AIDS than ever have an American passport again.”

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 13, 2015:
SEE ALSO DISCLAIMER AND LITIGATION UPDATES.

CANADIAN SUMMARY TRIAL AND U.S FATCA LAWSUIT UPDATE:
— Canada Revenue Agency confirms to us and Justice Martineau (via Government counsel) that it intends to begin transferring private banking data of some Canadian citizens to U.S. IRS on September 23, 2015.
— Justice Martineau is expected to provide a decision on our summary trial before that date — I predict on September 21, a Monday.
We will do our best to provide you quickly with the decision when it is rendered. It is possible that there might be only the “bare bones” of a decision, with reasons to follow later (because of the short time Justice Martineau had in reaching a decision before September 23).
Please be patient before and after the decision — and keep the faith.

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.
The summary trial took place on August 4-5 2015 and we expect to have a decision before September 23 2015.
See Alliance’s Claims, our Alliance blog, and AUGUST 4-5 SUMMARY TRIAL FILINGS in LITIGATION UPDATES.
Continue reading We are all waiting for Justice Martineau's decision on our Canadian FATCA IGA summary trial →

UPDATE January 24, 2015: THIRD OF FIVE LEGAL BILLS PAID
On August 11, 2014, Constitutional 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 worldwide. Read Alliance’s Claims and comment on our Alliance blog.

Chers amis et donateurs,
Ensemble, nous avons atteint notre but : ramasser les fonds nécessaires pour payer la troisième des cinq factures légales de notre poursuite judiciaire.
Ramasser 300 000 $ provenant de petits dons est un exploit tout à fait extraordinaire et nous invitons notre gouvernement canadien, ainsi que tous les autres gouvernements qui ont piétiné les droits de leurs citoyens, à en prendre bonne note.
Chaque jour, nous nous rapprochons de notre but. Déjà, nous avons ramassé plus de la moitié des fonds nécessaires pour payer les frais légaux de notre poursuite contre le gouvernement canadien et l’entente FATCA.
Si nous avons parcouru un si grand bout de chemin, c’est grâce à nos deux courageuses plaignantes, Ginny et Gwen, à nos donateurs provenant du Canada et de partout dans le monde, ainsi qu’aux administrateurs des sites Internet Isaac Brock Society et Maple Sandbox. Ils permettent tous à nos voix d’être entendues.
Merci !
L’équipe de l’ADSC

———————————————————————————————–

Dear Friends and Supporters,
Together we have reached our goal of paying off the third of five retainer fees for our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit.
Raising $300,000 from small donations is a pretty amazing achievement and we ask the Government of Canada, and those other governments who have also tossed away rights of their citizens, to take notice.
It’s still a marathon, but we are more than half way to pay off the Federal Court legal costs.
We have come so far because of our brave Plaintiffs, Ginny and Gwen, our Canadian and International donor-supporters, and the administrators of the Isaac Brock and Maple Sandbox websites who make it possible for our voices to be heard.
Thank you all,
—The ADCS-ADSC team

Continue reading Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit: February 1, 2015 legal bill will be paid on time! / Poursuite canadienne contre la FATCA et le gouvernement canadien : nos frais légaux du 1er février 2015 seront payés à temps ! →

This week I had a chat with a kind donor to our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit. She is a Canadian citizen who has lived in our country for more than four decades.
I asked her (as I now ask many) to predict what Canadians will do when the FATCA law identifies them and turns them over to a foreign country.
This Canadian told me how she will respond when her neighborhood bank turns her over to the United States Internal Revenue Service. She said:

“First time visitors to the “Isaac Brock” and “Maple Sandbox” websites are regularly advised to “Read, read, read before you take any action” when you discover that the IRS wants you.
Generally good advice, I would say, except that I would change the channel a bit and say “Read, read, read, and then take NO action“.
I would strongly urge people to read, read, read, and then take the time to live with the injustice, the absurdity, the absolute moral bankruptcy of FATCA before they commit themselves to any course of action.
Live with the feelings of unfairness and discrimination that surround FATCA; let the oppressiveness of the situation really take hold. Then take a deep breath, and another, let the fear subside, and then let the outrage and anger come forth and “Just say NO”.
We all know that the whole premise of FATCA (Citizenship-Based Taxation) is fundamentally wrong, so why do so many of us so readily agree to participate in a system that is “wrong”? Fear, anxiety, expediency, whatever?
When I am faced with a really complex situation that is impossible to figure out, and FATCA would be one of those, I try to pare things down to fundamental principles that let me see things more clearly. Really, in my mind, FATCA is no different from the scenario of the school yard bully.
The Harper Canadian Government should have stood up to the U.S. bully’s threat of sanctions and said “No”. It didn’t.
Canadian banks and financial institutions should have refused to become agents of the IRS. They didn’t.
Our Members of Parliament should have challenged the government to address issues of sovereignty, privacy, and equality of ALL Canadians. By and large, with a few notable exceptions, they didn’t.
So now it’s my turn; it’s my turn to stand up and say “No”. And I will.
I will refuse to fill out any “foreign” tax information forms, I will refuse to give my financial institutions any information on place of birth, and, if necessary, I will lie with an absolutely clear conscience.
I will refuse to let the bully play in my yard.
I realize that this is a course of action (or inaction) that might make some people feel uncomfortable. But, speaking personally, I feel much more uncomfortable being forced to do things that I know are wrong, and I know that FATCA is wrong.
It’s just wrong, plain and simple. So I’m not doing it.
I am now, and will remain, willfully non-compliant. End of story.”

July 28 UPDATE:
I spoke to Lynne today. She thanks everyone for their good wishes, but still is not feeling well enough to have visitors.
We all want her back with us soon.

July 25 UPDATE:
Many of you know that our warrior Lynne Blaze sustained a serious injury.
Lynne is still in an acute care hospital, will probably be there for awhile, and then will likely move to a rehab setting. I expect that she will return to us in about six weeks or so.
Lynne used many very colorful words to describe her situation in hospital, that I cannot repeat.
The nurses at the hospital refer to Lynne (who I have always described as “Kindly Lynne”) as “feisty.” Lynne herself explains to me that “My inner bitch has now come out!”
So, I send flowers — for Lynne
…or for her nurses…
 

She is the same Lynne again that we all know, and she knows that we all miss her.

PS: No, No, Lynne — not yet!!!

 
Stephen

Some of you might know that Lynne Blaze has a pre-existing medical condition. Unfortunately, Lynne just sustained a serious injury to her shoulder and won’t be fighting the FATCA fight for awhile.

She cannot predict where she will be in the immediate future and I expect that she will not be able to communicate with us for some time.
We all know Lynne’s determination to make our lives better. Her spirit shines through her pain.
Lynne asked me to pass on to us the following poem:

Lynne Blaze gave Stephen a call
Lynne Blaze had a great fall
Her Sandbox and Brock friends
Hope Lynne will be put back together again.

 
Yes, Lynne will be put back together again, but she will be missing in action for awhile. All of us wish her the best and her quick return to fight the FATCA fight once again.
Note from Outraged Canadian: This picture, with the fairy princess wings and the black eye embodies to me the essence of Lynne. She’s a fighter! I’m going to miss her terribly while she’s away and healing, and I hope she comes back to us soon.