In August of this year, a beaming Mélanie Joly stood alongside Swedish and Canadian executives as they posed for a photo.
The Swedish steel producer Swebor and the Canadian armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel had just signed a strategic partnership agreement that would establish Canada’s “first facility dedicated to production of ballistic-grade steel,” an accompanying press release from Roshel explained.
Canada had nothing to do with that deal, despite what the photo op might have implied. Joly’s office confirmed to me that the partnership is entirely private.
In fact, the only contract the government has granted to Roshel was in 2019, when the Department of National Defence sourced trailers from Roshel to the tune of just over $324,000 — though Roshel appears motivated to change that.
Fast-forward to this week. It turns out Roshel found a higher-paying government customer to grant it a contract. The Canadian company is selling more than $10 million worth of armoured vehicles that can stop .50-calibre rounds and protect its passengers from bomb blasts.
The buyer? U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The news was first reported by the Independent, a British publication.
But as ICE ramps up its harassment of U.S. communities while implementing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, Roshel has also been stepping up its lobbying efforts to get Canadian federal government contracts.
Joly, meanwhile, has hinted the government is looking for opportunities to play ball with domestic defence companies.
Speaking before the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade in March, Joly noted Canada has to up its spending to fulfil its NATO targets and she wants Canadian companies to take advantage of that.
“All of these business community members should think, ‘How can I be part of that supply chain? How can I be part of the investment the government will be making?’” Joly said.
All of this raises a sticky question about government procurement in the Trump era: Where do they draw the line in working with Canadian companies who are also profiting off of the more egregious aspects of Trump’s regime?
I sent an email to the Department of National Defence to ask them that question. They referred me to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand’s department, which did not answer by publication time.
But that’s not all…
READ MY FULL COLUMN FOR THE TYEE HERE: A Canadian Company Is Supplying Armoured Cars to ICE | Rachel Gilmore
