Doug Ford is backtracking on his comments about Ontario-made armoured ICE vehicles
A Brampton defence manufacturer was contracted by the US federal immigration agency late last year
Back in December, the CBC reported that a Brampton-based defence manufacturer called Roshel had been tapped to fill a $10-million rush order on 20 armoured vehicles for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This occurred as immigration crackdown blitzes, mass arrests and deportations were turning certain parts of the US into anti-democratic police states.
Related: Some of ICE’s armoured vehicles were made in Brampton
When Premier Doug Ford was asked about the contract that month, he called it “fantastic” news. “I love that,” Ford said in an interview, as if he had just been asked about the return of the display windows at Hudson’s Bay and not about an Ontario company equipping ICE agents who are carrying out Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
In the weeks since, ICE has escalated its reign of terror in Minneapolis: immigration officers fatally shot poet and mother Renee Nicole Good, kidnapped pre-schooler Liam Conejo Ramos—whose bunny hat has become a symbol of resistance—and, last weekend, shot and killed intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, who had been filming agents with his phone. And these are only the tragedies that have dominated headlines.
Related: Torontonians are holding a vigil for Alex Pretti and other victims of ICE
This morning, Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles called for an end to Ontario’s contracts serving ICE and asked the premier to clarify where he stands on the issue. At a media briefing an hour later, Ford seems to have recalibrated his stance from “I love that” to “I had nothing to do with it,” which is what he told reporters when grilled about his previous comments. “I am going to correct this story once and for all,” he said. “I heard it on the news. I don’t direct companies to go sell military vehicles down south or around the world.”
Yeah, guys—come on. Ford didn’t tell an Ontario company to equip ICE. He just praised their efforts in doing so.
Ford went on to pretend that Stiles doesn’t exist. Yes, the leader of the official Opposition is the one who called him out. But, if you ask the premier, the criticism is something he caught wind of online, between Heated Rivalry memes and ads for Ozempic: “It is on social media and that. We all know that everything that is on social media is 100 per cent accurate. It is a terrible, terrible thing, that social media.”
Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”
