Some Canadians are adding their voices to the growing number of Americans protesting against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE.
Protesters north of the border are also urging Canadian companies not to do business with ICE, in any way. Some currently do, and the protesters say their complicity in the violence should not be tolerated.
Last Sunday, February 1, dozens took to the streets in Montreal, standing in front of the U.S. Consulate, to protest against the tactics used by ICE. The crowd included some U.S. citizens.
“I’m an American in Canada. It feels like I’m standing on my neighbor’s lawn watching my house burn down,” said Jacob Wesoky, president of Democrats at McGill University, representing American students studying there. “It’s really difficult to watch all this chaos happening. I’ve taken these freedoms of free speech, free expression for granted my entire life. And now we’re watching that unravel.
“So we’re here again to make sure that we make our voices heard because here in Canada we still have the right for free speech, for free assembly and we’re really making sure we get that message across that we stand in solidarity with the people of Minnesota.”
Two American citizens were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis in the past few weeks, Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti.
One of the protesters in Montreal last weekend, Michael Lipset, is originally from Minnesota.
“I want to send a message to the world that fascism will not be tolerated anywhere,” he said. “I want to send the message that we want ICE out of the States. We want to abolish the organization. We want to prosecute the killer ICE officials.”
Many at the rally called on Canadian companies to stop doing business with ICE, including Montreal’s GardaWorld, one of Canada’s largest providers of security guard services, and Roshel, a Canadian defense manufacturer headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, northwest of Toronto.
Roshel has received a $10 million order from ICE for 20 armored cars, built to withstand bullets and bomb blasts. The company has not commented.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, meanwhile, says his government is not involved.
“I don’t direct companies to go sell military vehicles down south or around the world,” Ford said. “We did not buy these vehicles. I didn’t know about these vehicles. We don’t have anything to do with what crosses the border.”
Some experts say the issue for Canadian companies, of cutting off business ties with the U.S., is complicated.
“Do we sever all ties? Lots of Canadians have voted with their pocket books not to visit the United States. But that does’t mean we still don’t sell them oil,” said Marvin Ryder, abusiness professor at McMaster University in Hamilton.
Vancouver-based companies Hootsuite and Jim Pattison Group are being pressured over their business dealings with ICE. Canadian billionaire Jim Pattison’s company issued a statement saying only that it would not sell a warehouse in Virginia to ICE. The enforcement agency had wanted to use it as a holding facility.
Hootsuite is under fire for providing social media services to the US Department of Homeland Security. Some hope public pressure will get the company to rethink its relationship.
“We’ve seen it before with Tesla, with Spotify, with Jimmy Kimmel,” said Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon of Democracy Rising, an organization which tries to counter far right extremism. “Public pressure changes behavior. Our message is essentially that the public is watching and you will be remembered for how you chose to act in this moment.”
The federal government in Ottawa is steering clear of the issue. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said he would allow respective Canadian companies to respond to the criticisms.
