Canada likes to posture itself as a country that champions human rights abroad while upholding the rule of law at home. But that self-image begins to fracture when Canadian corporations quietly profit from systems known to inflict harm.
Nowhere is this contradiction more stark than in the ongoing business relationships between private Canadian corporations and U.S. immigration enforcement agencies.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have been criticized for years by human rights organizations, journalists and even U.S. government watchdogs for systemic abuses. These abuses include prolonged detention of asylum seekers, family separation, deaths in custody and the use of surveillance technologies that raise serious civil liberties concerns.
Under the Trump administration, we’ve seen these abuses hit a new level — namely in Minneapolis. There, ICE agents have tear gassed, pepper sprayed, beaten, arrested and killed protesters including two American citizens; Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Both killings have compelling video evidence to suggest they were retaliatory and unjustified.
Despite this record, Canadian companies are seemingly happy to do business with these agencies. That must change.
The federal government must compel Canadian companies to cease providing equipment and services to ICE and CBP. Allowing these relationships to continue makes Canada complicit, both directly and indirectly, in a system that violates human rights.
My argument is not that Canada can single-handedly reform U.S. immigration policy; it cannot.
Canada does have control over its own exports, corporations and the ethical standards that it chooses to enforce, though. When Canadian-made surveillance systems, Canadian-made armoured vehicles and Canadian security companies are used to detain migrants in reportedly inhumane conditions, responsibility does not stop at the border.
Ottawa already recognizes that trade and human rights are linked. Canadian companies are already required to take measures to prevent forced and child labour in supply chains through the import of goods manufactured through such methods.
Plus, Canada restricts arms exports to many countries, especially those under United Nations sanctions. Simply put, Canadian economic policy already states that economic activity should not enable harm elsewhere. Immigration enforcement equipment should be treated no differently.
Companies that are involved in or being considered by DHS to provide services for ICE include subsidiaries of GardaWorld Security, Roshel and Hootsuite.
Montreal’s GardaWorld has been cleared to bid for a US$138 million deal for emergency detention services, according to a Globe and Mail report. GardaWorld already provides security on a $8 million (USD) contract for the infamous Alligator Alcatraz.
The detention site has been flagged by Amnesty International due to detainees being subjected to what the organization calls “harrowing human rights violations,” including unhygienic facilities, poor quality food, extreme temperatures, permanent lighting and limited access to clean water.
This facility is staffed by security working for GardaWorld.
As well, manufacturer Roshel headquartered in Brampton, is providing a bulk order of 20 Senator STANG emergency response tactical vehicles to ICE. These vehicles are designed to withstand bullets and bomb blasts, according to a CBC report. Similar units have been deployed in Ukraine, and will be deployed on city streets across the US to be used in ICE’s detention efforts. In the wake of the murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, this contract should devastate Canadians.
Finally, Vancouver tech company Hootsuite has been awarded an ICE contract worth approximately US$ 2.8 million, according to CityNews, to provide “social media management services” for the department.
None of this is even remotely acceptable.
Canada cannot continue to draw moral lines in the sand when it’s convenient but ignore Canada’s role in current state of American immigration policy.
Forcing Canadian companies to sever ties with ICE and CBP would not be symbolic; it would be a concrete action that reflects Canadian values.
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