Let RBC know that we continue to insist they break relations with Palantir, as if losing 70% of their stock value in 2022 was not enough reason!
Take one minute and write to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) officials, President McKay, CFO Ahn, Chair Taylor.
Write a letter
Stand in solidarity with the Gidimt’en Checkpoint, call for the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to defund Coastal GasLink.
In 2021, over 10,000 letters were sent to RBC asking for them to break relations with Palantir Technologies Inc (PTI).
Since that time, the values of the RBC’s holding of Palantir has plummeted dropping about 70% of its late 2021 value.
Palantir provides Artificial Intelligence (AI) predictive system to Israeli security forces, to identify people in occupied Palestine.
Palantir provides the same mass surveillance tools to law enforcement agencies and police departments, circumventing warrant procedures giving police access to vast amounts of information about individuals.
The use of law enforcement databases, gathered from the Israeli military, skews the predictive power of the AI analysis to focus upon the types, locations, and Palestinians currently in the database. Human rights organizations deplore this type of policing. In Canada, the way these data bases are constructed makes them unlawful.
As of November 2021, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has 2,403,812 shares of Palantir Technologies Inc Class A (US:PLTR) with total holdings valued at $57,787,000 USD. The RBC holdings in Palantir have been steadily increasing quarter over quarter. However, in November 2022, RBC investment had dropped to $15,748,000 USD, holding 1,937,088 shares.
RBC made these investments despite the controversy surrounding the September 2020 direct listing of PTI on the New York Stock Exchange. Palantir was criticized in the financial press for an unusual corporate governance structure.
#RBCsayNo2Palantir
Meanwhile RBC is financing Coastal GasLink
For years, Coastal GasLink – a pipeline that would transport fracked gas from northeast BC to Pacific transport ships – has been opposed by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs on their traditional land.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have been recognized by the Canadian and BC governments as having rights on the Yintah (traditional land). Yet they still face heavily militarized RCMP officers with machine guns and sniper rifles who violently arrested land defenders, elders, and journalists.
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Initiated by
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
See other organizations supporting HERE.
Organizations wish to endorse can do so HERE.
The letter to the RBC:
January 2023
RBC President McKay, CFO Ahn, and Chair Taylor
You surely will remember the thousands of letters you received in 2021 seeking you to have RBC sever investments in Palantir for many ethical and moral reasons.
People asked why you had not applied the Environmental, Social, and Governance [ESG] analysis developed by RBC Global Asset Management.
You did not listen to these concerns and maintained your investment in Palantir.
The decision you made, and apparently continue to make, resulted in an adverse result for RBC shareholders as the ‘market’ judged Palantir to be lacking; leading to a significant drop in the value of the stock held by RBC.
As more independent minded, management individuals become aware of the deficiencies in the Palantir Artificial Intelligence [AI] and adopt ethical business practices as to the use of data bases with a preponderance of racist content, Palantir stock will continue to tumble.
RBC shareholders will not be happy and will likely express their view in a lessening of your annual bonus.
You seem oblivious to to these warnings. So, I again urge you to run Palantir Technologies Inc through the RBC Global Asset Management ESG process to determine your future course of action. Your in-house investment management process will more than likely suggest, or perhaps demand, immediate divestment from Palantir.
In this matter you are best to be ahead of the curve prior to Palantir becoming an albatross around RBC and your own leadership.
Wet’suwet’en land defenders have called on the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to divest from the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline now being constructed on Wet’suwet’en territory (yintah) in northern British Columbia without free, prior and informed consent. I urge you to divest from Coastal GasLink immediately respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and their land.
Sincerely,
The Canadian BDS Coalition
Just Peace Advocates
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
and others