People vow to boycott Ben & Jerry’s after ice cream company marks Canada Day by tweeting about ‘stolen land’
By Adam Frisk, CTVNews.ca Producer, Local
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Toronto, Ontario (CTV Network) — People are vowing to boycott Ben & Jerry’s ice cream after the company marked Canada Day by tweeting about “our home on stolen land.”
On Saturday, the iconic American ice cream maker tweeted out a call to action, linking to an online petition, urging Parliament “to disband C-IRG today!”
“Another day to talk about #LandBack and how we can support communities defending their land. Take action this Canada Day,” the company tweeted with a link to a form.
The form is a pre-worded letter to the federal government demanding the disbandment of RCMP’s controversial Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG). The task force has been criticized over its tactics and has been accused of violations of human rights, civil liberties and racist and violent attacks on Indigenous Peoples, journalists and protesters in British Columbia.
“British Columbia’s use of a police force to protect pipelines and logging projects, and suppress free speech represents a profound failure to deal with the climate emergency and protect Indigenous rights,” reads the petition letter on the ice cream company’s website. “I am joining many others who are calling for this new policing unit to be disbanded.”
Some social media users vowed to boycott Ben & Jerry’s for “politicizing ice cream.”
“I prefer non-political ice cream, so I’ll take a hard pass on Ben & Jerry’s,” reads a comment.
“The action I plan on taking is to never ever buy your product again. Disgusting,” reads another.
Some pointed out the ice cream-maker itself is on stolen land.
“I don’t want to point out the obvious but many Indigenous people are lactose intolerant. Your product gives us the [poops]. I’ll send my address where you can send our royalties to since you are on stolen land as well,” reads a tweet.
“Sure, you go first. #LandBack,” reads another.
CTV News has reached out to Ben & Jerry’s Canadian parent company, Unilever, for comment on the Canada Day tweet but has yet to receive a response.
In the U.S., the Vermont-based company put out a similar statement on Tuesday to mark America’s Independence Day.
“The United States was founded on stolen Indigenous land. This Fourth of July let’s commit to returning it,” reads the tweet.
The company suggested on its website that Mount Rushmore would be a good starting point before outlining the history behind the iconic site.
“Ah, the Fourth of July. Who doesn’t love a good parade, some tasty barbecue, and a stirring fireworks display? The only problem with all that, though, is that it can distract from an essential truth about this nation’s birth: The U.S. was founded on stolen Indigenous land,” reads the message on the U.S. website. “This year, let’s commit to returning it.”
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