MP Jenny Kwan Statement on BC Based Companies Hootsuite and Jimmy Pattison Development Working with ICE
I am deeply disappointed by reports that BC based companies Hootsuite and Jimmy Pattison Developments are linked to ICE in the US, through services contracted with the Department of Homeland Security and a proposal to lease out a space in Virginia for an ICE processing facility.
ICE has been at the centre of deeply harmful and violent immigration policies, including mass deportations, family separation, and the use of force that has led to the tragic loss of life in Minneapolis and other cities, including a Canadian in custody in Florida last year.
Canadian companies have a responsibility to uphold human rights wherever they operate. I have raised similar concerns about Canadian firms supplying equipment to U.S.
immigration authorities, and these patterns should raise serious questions about business practices that support the normalization of creeping authoritarianism in the US.
Hootsuite and Jimmy Pattison Developments should critically reconsider whether partnering with agencies responsible for widespread human rights abuses aligns with the values they claim to uphold. Jimmy Pattison Group "emphasizes social and environmental responsibility, aiming to protect resources and contribute to communities." Hootsuite, on its own website, states amongst its values that "inclusion is what we do, " and commits to "give back to our communities and be an ally."
