Category: ADCS-ADSC

“Canada is expected to defend the constitutional rights and freedoms of its citizens and not bargain them away or capitulate to threats from a foreign bully state.” say Plaintiffs Gwen and Kazia in 12/13/2018 Canada Federal Court FATCA submission — Plaintiffs go to court January 28, 2019 and will ask for your support, later, for the appeal costs

cross-posted from Brock

by Stephen Kish

…and Plaintiffs go on to say:

“The notion that a foreign state could indirectly cause the violation of a Charter right in circumstances where Canada could not do so directly simply cannot be accepted. This is a deeply illiberal proposition and it would undermine the principle of the rule of law which explicitly animates the Charter.”

UPDATE: FATCA IGA litigation in Canada Federal Court: The guts of our Plaintiffs’ (Gwen and Kazia) arguments and those of the Government we oppose (for simplicity, “Canada”) can now be found in four court documents submitted between October 3 and December 13, 2018 (see below for some excerpts). The Court submissions can be found on our ADCS website.

The trial, which fleshes out the written arguments in orals in Federal Court, will be held the week of January 28, 2019 (next month) in Vancouver. We hope that some of you will attend.

FUNDING WILL BE NEEDED FOR THE EXPECTED APPEAL: A trial decision will come at some indeterminate time later (June 2019?) and it can be expected that THERE WILL BE AN APPEAL NO MATTER WHO WINS.

However, our appeal will only happen if we are successful in seeking funds, again from our supporters, for the costs of the appeal (Canada has unlimited funds from taxpayers).

At present we do not intend to seek funds for the appeal costs until pronouncement of judgement.

The first filing deadline is 30 days after court decision, and then a series of new 30 day deadlines kick in, and we will need to scramble very quickly to obtain the necessary funds our legal team will need to pay for their costs.
Continue reading ““Canada is expected to defend the constitutional rights and freedoms of its citizens and not bargain them away or capitulate to threats from a foreign bully state.” say Plaintiffs Gwen and Kazia in 12/13/2018 Canada Federal Court FATCA submission — Plaintiffs go to court January 28, 2019 and will ask for your support, later, for the appeal costs”

CANADIAN FATCA IGA LAWSUIT UPDATE: October 3, 2018 Plaintiffs’ Memorandum of Argument Has Been Submitted to Canada’s Federal Court

cross-posted from Brock.

by Stephen J. Kish

CANADIAN FATCA IGA LAWSUIT UPDATE
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here is the Memorandum of Argument of our Plaintiffs (Gwen and Kazia) for our FATCA IGA legislation lawsuit that was submitted on October 3, 2018 to Canada’s Federal Court. [Note that text is limited to 30 pages.]

The Memorandum can be found HERE.

The gist of our argument (page 12) is that the FATCA IGA legislation is inapplicable to Provincially regulated institutions and violates Sections 7, 8, and 15 of Canada’s Charter of Rights.

The word “sovereignty” is used many times in the document.

Some Excerpts:

— “Section 8 of the Charter states: Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure…The Impugned Provisions authorize both a search and a seizure…The plaintiffs and other reasonable hypothetical individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their Accountholder Information…Canada pleads that because the plaintiffs and other US Persons have pre-existing obligations to report certain information to the IRS under US law, their privacy interest in that information is minimal…Canada cannot demonstrate that the searches and seizures authorized by Impugned Provisions are reasonable because (a) they are warrantless and lack any judicial supervision of any kind, (b) it is impossible to test their reliability in achieving their objective, and (c) they almost certainly capture an inordinate number of individuals who have no US tax and reporting obligations…”

— “The state objective underlying the Impugned Provisions is to assist the United States in implementing FATCA and finding US tax evaders and cheats.57 This is not an important Canadian objective.”

— “Finally, the court should recognize a novel principle of fundamental justice that Canada will not deny its citizens the protection of Canadian sovereignty…the principle of non-intervention between states is a cornerstone of the international order and intrinsically connected to state sovereignty;88 it is undoubtedly considered by all Canadians to be fundamental to their notion of justice that Canada will not expose them to enforcement of another state’s laws…”

NEXT STEPS:

— Canada responds to our Memorandum of Argument by November 21, 2018.

— We reply to Canada by December 7, 2018.

— Trial is held in Vancouver beginning January 28, 2019

Canadian #FATCA IGA Litigation Update: Court has fixed Monday January 28, 2019 as trial date

 

Canadian FATCA IGA Litigation

cross-posted from Isaac Brock Society

   by Stephen Kish

Now appears more likely that we will get to trial in January 2019 in our Canadian FATCA IGA enabling legislation lawsuit in Federal Court.

The Case Management Judge has just advised:

“The hearing of this summary trial motion shall take place before this Court at the Federal Court, 701 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, on Monday, the 28th day of January, 2019, at 9:30 in the forenoon for a maximum duration of five (5) days. The number of hearing days may be reduced depending on the number of preliminary motions.”

Other:

“The following timetable shall apply to the motion for summary trial: (a) The Defendant [Mr. Trudeau’s attorneys] shall serve her evidence (with the exception of one expert report) by April 16, 2018. (b) The Defendant shall serve her remaining expert report by April 30, 2018. (c) Notice of any objections to expert reports shall be served by June 15, 2018. (d) A case management conference shall be held, by teleconference, on July 12, 2018 at 1:00 pm (Eastern) to address any motion to strike affidavits. (e) All cross-examinations shall be completed by July 31, 2018. (f) The Plaintiffs [Gwen and Kazia] shall serve and file their complete motion record by September 28, 2018. (g) The Defendant shall serve and file her complete responding motion record by November 16, 2018. (h) The Plaintiffs shall serve and file their reply submissions by December 7, 2018.

March 22, 2018 Canadian FATCA IGA Litigation in Federal Court Update: New Timetable

Canadian FATCA IGA litigation

UPDATE March 22, 2018

The attorneys for our side (our side are Plaintiffs Gwen and Kazia, the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty — the “client”, and our supporters) and the attorneys for Mr. Justin Trudeau’s Government have just agreed on the timing for the next steps of our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit in Canada’s Federal Court.

It is always possible that the Court might change some of the dates but here is the new timetable:

— Defence [the Government] evidence, except one expert report, filed April 16, 2018;

— Last defence expert report filed April 30, 2018;

— Notice of any objections to expert reports provided by June 15, 2018;

— CMC to discuss scheduling of any applications to strike all or portions of affidavits in

— Cross-examinations completed by July 31, 2018;

— Plaintiffs argument served and filed by September 28, 2018;

— Defence argument served and filed by November 16, 2018;

— Plaintiffs’ reply served and filed by December 7, 2018;

— Hearing the week of January 28, 2019, subject to the Court’s availability.

The key update is the hope/expectation that the Federal Court hearing will take place in January 2019.

Since the beginning of our lawsuit, many, many Canadian citizens (we have not been provided with the numbers) have been rounded up and turned over by Canada CRA to the United States IRS.

Yes, I know that our litigation has been moving at a glacial pace. Sorry…

ADCS-ADSC & ADCT Letter to U.S. Congress

 

— In this press release we ask United States Congress to fix a problem in the present House/Senate tax bills that targets certain Canadian citizen/residents who own an incorporated business — and more broadly — to “stop imposing worldwide taxation on any Canadian resident”.

The press release is being sent in part to members of U.S. Congress and also to Canadian politicians who should be in the business of defending Canadian citizens from harm caused by a foreign state.

The focus of the press release is intentionally on “Canadians”. The word “American” is not mentioned. Our use in the text of the now-offensive term “U.S. person” (defined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service) does not imply that U.S. person law applies to any Canadian resident or that any of these so-designated (by the U.S.) Canadians have ever consented to be U.S. persons.

*******
 

 
 
November 24, 2017
For Immediate Release

U.S. CONGRESS: DO NOT CONFISCATE OUR SMALL CANADIAN BUSINESSES AS PART OF YOUR TAX REFORM

Dear Congressperson,

On November 16, 2017 Rep George Holding, of the House Ways and Means Committee, in an exchange with Chairman Brady, urged that as part of tax reform that: The United States join the rest of the world by adopting “residence-based taxation”. This would END the U.S. current practice of imposing worldwide taxation on certain residents of other countries.
 
As U.S. law currently stands, many Canadian citizen/residents (who are deemed by the U.S. to be “U.S. Persons”) find themselves subject to U.S. taxation (ON THEIR CANADIAN INCOMES and CANADIAN ASSETS), even though they live in Canada and pay taxes to Canada.
The application of U.S. tax law into Canada – a principle enforced by FATCA – has profoundly negative consequences, some of which are intended and some of which are unintended.
 
This is a request that the wording of the United States “Tax Cuts and Job” bill be revised so as not to harm, even more, small Canadian businesses possibly included, we believe inadvertently, by your proposed tax reform legislation.
 
As your tax Senate and House tax reform bills are presently worded, Sec. 14103, for example in the Senate bill, might be interpreted to confiscate a significant percentage of the retained earnings of certain small “Canadian Controlled Private Corporations”. This is evidently part of broader legislation to implement “territorial taxation”, in order to enhance the competitiveness of publicly traded U.S. multinational corporations.
 
We believe that this section is intended to apply ONLY to the foreign subsidiaries of U.S. domestic corporations. However, a strict reading of the language of the bill suggests that this “transition tax” MIGHT also be paid by those who are deemed by your country to be “U.S. persons” living overseas who happen (as is common in Canada) to own an incorporated small business. The “minnows” swept up by your bill will then include small businesses such as a one-person incorporated medical doctor’s clinic, should the owner be designated by U.S. law to be a “U.S. person”.
 
We do not believe that this was your intention and ask that you fix the language of the bills accordingly. Surely you would agree that “territorial taxation” for U.S. multinational corporations does NOT mean that the United States should extend its taxable “territory” to Canadians who happen to own small Canadian Controlled Private Corporations!
 
As part of U.S. tax reform, we conclude by asking that the United States stop imposing worldwide taxation on any Canadian resident AND clarify that the “Tax Cuts and Jobs” Bill does NOT apply to Canadian residents who are shareholders of Canadian Controlled Private Corporations.
 
John Richardson
Carol Tapanila
Patricia Moon
Stephen Kish
 
On behalf of the
Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (www.adcs-adsc.ca ) Information@adcs-adsc.ca;
and
Alliance for the Defeat of Citizenship Taxation (citizenshiptaxation.ca)
 
Contact Mr. John Richardson at johnrichardson@citizenshipsolutions.ca
 
 

October 29, 2017 Canadian FATCA IGA Legislation Litigation Update: Government delay in obtaining their expert witnesses

cross-posted from the Isaac Brock Society

by Stephen J. Kish

OCTOBER 29, 2017 CANADIAN FATCA IGA LITIGATION UPDATE:

Our trial on Canada’s FATCA IGA legislation in Federal Court will now be delayed further because Mr. Justin Trudeau’s lawyers are having problems obtaining their expert witnesses (our side’s experts have already filed affidavits).

The problem is that Government’s contracting/procurement process is not functioning as it should, and Government is having difficulty establishing the necessary retainer contracts for each of the experts they wish to use.

The hoped for time frame for the experts contracts is now end of November; however, Government experts want at least 12 weeks to prepare their affidavits.

I can’t give you a firm date yet on the trial, but speculate that trial might take place sometime early summer 2018.

— Each year more and more Canadian citizens are rounded up and turned over to a foreign country…

October 24, 2017 Canadian and United States (RO) FATCA IGA/FATCA Litigation Update

cross-posted from the Isaac Brock Society

October 24, 2017 Canadian and United States (RO) FATCA IGA/FATCA Litigation Update

by Stephen J Kish
October 24, 2017

OCTOBER 24, 2017 FATCA IGA legislation/FATCA litigation update.

Canadian (Alliance for the Defense of Canadian Sovereignty [ADCS] is the “client”) FATCA IGA legislation lawsuit:

We are suing (since 2014) the Government of Canada (specifically Justin Trudeau’s Attorney General and Revenue Minister), in Federal Court for rounding up Canadians having a U.S. taint and turning them over to a foreign government. We argue that this violates Canada’s sovereignty as an independent nation and its Charter of Rights that is meant to protect all Canadians.

As to next steps, it now appears likely that most, if not all, of our brave lay witnesses, who provided written affidavits demonstrating harm, will NOT be examined by the Government lawyers. This is good news as it means that we will get to trial “sooner”. We do expect, however, that our expert witnesses will be cross-examined by Government next.

We have not yet received all of Government’s affidavits (e.g., from their experts). When we do, our legal team will need to decide whether they need to cross examine any of the affiants. We are moving forward but I am sorry but I cannot give you a time frame on this.

It is the “job” of the Case Management Judge, who supervises our case, to keep our litigation “moving”.

U.S. Republicans Overseas (RO, the client) FATCA, IGA, and FBAR lawsuit:

Mark Crawford, Senator Rand Paul, Roger Johnson, Daniel Kuettel, Stephen Kish, Donna-Lane Nelson, and Marc Zell are Plaintiffs, Republicans Overseas is the client. The lawsuit is in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

From the petition: “This case challenges FATCA, the IGAs unilaterally negotiated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury Department”) to supplant FATCA in signatory countries, and the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”) ad- ministered by the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. These laws and agreements impose unique and discriminatory burdens on U.S. citizens living and working abroad.”

U.S. Government lawyers have been arguing, so far successfully, that none of the Plaintiffs have the necessary “standing” to go to trial. The RO attorney however, argues in part that a “certain” threat of harm/prosecution is not necessary, but that a “credible” threat of prosecution should suffice for standing.

On August 30, 2017, Plaintiffs filed a petition for rehearing to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the original panel’s Opinion conflicted with two decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Plaintiffs asked that the original panel reconsider the case under correct standards, and absent such action by the original panel, we asked that the full Court consider the case en banc to establish and apply standing rules compliant with existing Supreme Court decisions.

The 6th Circuit has now denied rehearing. Plaintiffs’ next step will be to file (which they will) a certiorari petition to the United States Supreme Court, asking them to review the decision of the lower court on standing. This petition is due on Monday, December 25, 2017.

— I mention the U.S. negative court decisions on Plaintiff standing as I personally suspect that this general issue will be brought up by Government attorneys in the Canadian FATCA IGA legislation lawsuit — Mr. Trudeau’s Ministers arguing that there has been no “FATCA harm” caused to any Canadian. I personally dispute this as Government admits that the Canadian FATCA IGA legislation has directly resulted in over 100,000 Canadians (now up to 500,000?) being turned over to a foreign country — a clear harm that is a Charter and Constitutional violation.

Alliance for the Defeat of Citizenship Taxation (ADCT) litigation efforts in United States:

An aim of ADCT is to defeat by litigation in U.S. court citizenship-based taxation and related laws that we believe, in part, violate the U.S. Constitution. ADCT is not moving forward with any lawsuit in U.S. Court until the US tax reform legislation is passed by Congress (probably in 2018) and our legal claims can be clarified in light of that legislation (or absence of legislation) and established at that time as being reasonable to pursue.

Continue reading “October 24, 2017 Canadian and United States (RO) FATCA IGA/FATCA Litigation Update”

May 13, 2017 Canadian Federal Court FATCA IGA lawsuit update: Motion for Summary Trial now submitted

“…The government of Canada has a responsibility to stand up for its citizens when foreign governments are encroaching on their rights…We believe that the deal reached between Canada and the U.S. is insufficient to protect affected Canadians…” June 2015 Pre-Election statement of Mr. Justin Trudeau (now Prime Minister of the Government we are suing) to a constituent

May 13 2017 Canadian FATCA Litigation Update:

SUMMARY TRIAL MOTION has now been submitted on Constitutional/Charter issues. We are finally moving closer to trial and our Vancouver litigators have now served and filed in Canada’s Federal Court a “Notice of Motion for Summary Trial”.

As detailed in this brief motion (see link) this is a pleading to the Federal Court of Canada for a summary judgement we are seeking on the Constitutional-Charter issues.

We argue in the motion that the Canadian legislation enabling the FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) violates Canada’s Constitution Act (by forfeiting Canada’s sovereignty and facilitating the extra-territorial enforcement of a foreign state’s taxation and tax compliance regime on Canadians) and Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Sections 7, 8, and 15).

There is this statement in the Motion:

“The contours of United States citizenship and the definition of US Person are matters of United States law and/or policy and are subject to be changed by the United States at any time.”

There is also this:

“It is a principle of international law that every sovereign state has the right to conduct its affairs without intervention by other states (the “Principle of Non-Intervention”). The Principle of Non-Intervention is at the core of the international legal order and is a corollary of every state’s right to sovereignty, territorial integrity and political Independence. The Principle of Non-Intervention is an element of the unwritten constitution.”

Will the Federal Court of Canada accept this Constitutional argument?

This motion is NOT the main, detailed legal submission (i.e., where all of the case law is discussed, etc.) which will be filed much closer to the hearing date (yet to be decided).

AFFIDAVITS. You will notice on pages 22-23 a long list of affidavit titles. Because of a technical issue related to the litigation, it is not possible to publish the text of these affidavits at the present time.

Some of the affidavits include those we previously submitted and those Government submitted – which we feel will help our case.

There are also expert reports from three witnesses (Ryan Liss, Roy Berg, Kevyn Nightingale) who were selected by our litigators to provide an expert opinion based on our litigators’ assessment of their expertise and experience.

In addition, there are affidavits listed from lay witnesses.

Our litigators made a strategic decision on the selection of specific lay witnesses for the trial from the larger group of volunteers. I thank the lay witnesses and all witness volunteers for their courage and commitment to push for return of Canada to Canadians.

LIKELY NEXT STEPS. On May 19, 2017 there will be a teleconference with Government, Case Management Judge, and our side to deal with the Government Motion to compel further documents from the three plaintiffs (we oppose the motion).

After the ruling, Examinations for Discovery of the three expert witnesses and the plaintiffs will be scheduled and conducted. Our lawyers will likewise examine the Attorney General’s witnesses. It is also possible that the Attorney General might examine our lay witnesses. We currently do not know if they will elect to do so.

Upon completion of the all examinations of the parties, and after filing all required submissions, we will await a trial date to be set by the court. Trial dates are dependent on the availability of Justices and court (backlog) schedules.

I know that the slow pace of our litigation is frustrating. Thank you for your continued support and kind thoughts.

Stephen Kish

Continue reading “May 13, 2017 Canadian Federal Court FATCA IGA lawsuit update: Motion for Summary Trial now submitted”

UPDATE: Canadian Charter Trial Moves Forward…..Slowly

 

eng_fr_logos

cross posted from the Isaac Brock Society

This is an update on our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit — just to let you know that the lawsuit is alive and is moving forward, slowly.

Today our litigators and the Government attorneys met with a Case Management Judge to resolve differences.

The good news is that we now have permission from the Case Management Judge to file a motion for the Charter-Constitutional trial and provide our evidence in support of the motion. Government will also file a motion, for which we have 28 days to respond, on an issue in which there is disagreement between our side and Government.

Once that Government motion and our response is sorted out, there will be another Case Management Conference to resolve remaining issues prior to trial and to schedule the hearing.

— I am sorry, but we do not yet have a trial date in 2017, and I will keep you informed on developments.

Thank you for your patience. By now, we all know that litigation against Government does not move quickly.

Finally, I want to thank the brave Plaintiffs and Witnesses for their courage: They make our lawsuit possible.

Stephen