Can you clarify/elaborate on this Amber angle?
Sandy’s family physically took Amber away without any official divorce yet?
Which authorities did not believe him? He officially went to some authority to discuss custody issue (again, without any divorce)?
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Correct, no divorce yet.
Amber was living with mother and Dave did not see her and didn’t get to talk to her. This is coming from Dave.
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Useful.
12 years without going back to Canada is long time.
In October 2016, who did he see in Canada? Just your dad and/or you? Since it was 12 years, what made Dave suddenly go back?
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Saw me and my dad yes.
Things were over in Taiwan for him, marriage, eviction, no job etc.
Think he was going to stay in Canada but missed his daughter so went back to try and fix things.
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So, correct me if wrong:
Her family somehow had Dave in touch with an Immigration officer in Taitung, a legal aid and/lawyer, who he thinks were all on Sandy’s side for custody of Amber?
What did Dave say was being promised to him by those government officials? Legal residency in Taiwan if he signed divorce papers and give up custody? (my speculation)
Do not believe divorce was even brought up yet.
Dave went to the authorities for help in the matter.
Ok, so why was he being put in touch with what appears to be three or more people (govt official/lawyer/policeman) in Taitung, whom he thought was on side of Sandy?
He himself sought them out, and then they appeared to take Sandy’s side?
He was seeking help. Trying to get or at least see his daughter, saying she is being kidnapped from him.
Ok. Thanks for your patience in answering all these questions. That screen grab of FB msg is kind of impactful to the final days of Dave’s known presence in Taiwan.
Who are the “they” when Dave stated, “… lawyer they hired for me”?
Someone hired a lawyer for Dave?
Not sure but not Sandy and her family.
He mentions legal aid
The messages you’ve quoted from Dave include mention of the malign influence of one “Peter, Immigration Officer in Taitung”. Could that be the notorious Peter Chen of Taitung Foreign Affairs Police, I wonder? Many here will remember the case of Scott Ezell, whose deportation was engineered by Peter Chen back in 2004. Here is Scott’s letter to the Taipei Times about it:
Legal process unfair
On June 3, my employer, Taiwan Colors Music, received notification from the Labor Bureau that my work permit had been cancelled and that I had to leave Taiwan within 14 days. This was unanticipated and shocking. But it was also the culmination of a program of systematic harassment carried out against me by the Taitung police, despite the facts that I have been a legal working resident since 1999 and that I have not been charged with any crime.
The trouble began on April 8 when the Taitung County Culture Bureau sponsored a press conference to publicize a performance series I’ve been part of (I’ve both performed in and helped book other artists for the Dulan Organic Music Series, held in a cafe 20km north of Taitung City). The following week, after the event was reported in local media, Taitung Foreign Affairs Police officer Peter Chen (陳允萍) called the cafe manager and threatened that, due to my participation, she was subject to an NT$150,000 fine and I was liable to deportation. Chen claimed that undercover officers had documented my involvement with video footage and photos.
County Culture Bureau Director Lin Yong-fa and the Taitung City mayor intervened on my behalf – after all, I was unpaid, and the event benefited not only the cafe and the local community but also the bureau and the performers, for whom there is no other original music venue in Taitung.
Chen promised the officials that if I made a formal statement the case would be shelved. At the precinct office I was asked a number of questions relating to my performances without any mention of my right to remain silent or to consult a lawyer. Only when my answers were printed and handed to me did I see from the statement that I was under criminal investigation, and the statement of my legal rights. I protested this omission of due process, but the officers told me I would have “big trouble” if I didn’t sign the statement. I signed, but they refused to give me a copy, saying, “You read it, you signed it, you should know what’s in it.”
Based on that statement the Labor Bureau has convicted me in absentia of violating labor laws. They have revoked my work permit, and, thereby, my residence in Taiwan.
As a writer and musician, my life in Taitung has been far from nefarious. My last CD, Ocean Hieroglyphics , is among other things an expression of the beauty of Taitung’s coast, and is distributed internationally by Wind Records. I have done a number of pro bono recordings of Aboriginal elders singing their traditional songs. I write regularly for the alternative Taipei weekly POTS , and several of my essays on the predicament of Taiwan’s Aboriginals will be published in an international journal this year. Selections of my poems have recently been published in Chinese translation in Taiwan Poetics .
I am in the process of mounting an appeal. But beyond the outcome of this case, the larger issue at stake for Taiwan is that something is seriously amiss when a foreign affairs police officer baldly lies about law enforcement issues to a foreign resident. The travesty is extended further when the Labor Bureau simply takes that officer’s evidence as prima facie that I am a criminal, and when their first step is to revoke my working rights, and thereby my residence, in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s efforts to gain a place in the international community are contravened if the police force, as an extension of political authority, uses threats and intimidation to enforce a xenophobic or ladder-climbing agenda, and if the administration does not competently process issues relating to the rights of foreign residents.
One would hope that the police and government agencies of this struggling democracy would do their utmost to support creative expression and cultural exchange, rather than undermine them through narrow-mindedness and antiquated labor laws.
Scott Ezell
Dulan, Taitung County
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Ah, there’s an article in Taiwan Panorama , dated April 26, 2018, titled Making the Case for Judicial Interpretation – Peter Chen , which connects him to Taitung and describes him as having moved from the foreign affairs police to the National Immigration Agency. So it’s highly likely to be the same person.
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Do you know him, or of him, CTaitung?
No.
I remember that same thread years ago on him, too, and PM’d Dave’s brother (no confirm yet if same Peter), because I found that story above. You and I were just following the same trail. lol.
Tbat story above makes it seem like could be Dave’s “Peter”, because the Peter Chen in that story set up some sort of interpretation foundation for foreign workers, and Dave spoke zero Chinese. So. maybe…
P.S. That Peter Chen ran for Taitung City Council last December.
his chinese site: www.petertaitung.tw/mystory.php
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Dang, you guys beat me to it, but I’ve looked all this stuff up, so I’ve gotta post it. 
Mods and/or Administrator(s), feel free to Temp or delete this probably-unnecessary post:
I can’t help but wonder if the above person is Peter Chen, a person whose name has been mentioned on this board in the past:
He’s also been mentioned in the Taipei Times:
He apparently changed jobs at some point:
I don’t know Chinese, but the contents of this page seem to be by and about Mr. Chen (a word of caution–陳允萍 is also the name of a woman who lives or has lived in Taitung or its environs):
http://petertaitung.tw/mystory.php
This page seems to mention him in the context of immigration matters:
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I suspect he would be very proud to learn of his notoriety in the foreign community.
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Dave May have embellished his military career to his wife, he wouldn’t be the first.
One small idea: you could try turning on “active status” in your Facebook messenger. This allows you to see when other people were last loggedin to Facebook (unless they disabled it). Maybe this shows when your brother last logged in. If significantly after the missing date, this would mean he or someone else logged in later.
Info:
On Android, you would enable it like this:
- in the “chats” view
- tap on your own picture in the top of the screen, left of the “Chats” headline
- the first setting is “Active Status”, tap it
- activate “Show when you’re active”
Now go up the chat with Dave. Under his name, it should say something like “last online”. It might not be accurate, very rough, but it might be a clue.