RBC Prevails in holding unethical investment in Palantir despite stocks plummeting
Take one minute and write to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) officials, President McKay, CFO Ahn, Chair Taylor.
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!
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.
RBC also has investments in Elbit, and the Royal Bank donated money to Israel/UJA after Oct. 7, 2023. According to Bank Track has investments in settlements. Also, investment indices include companies listed on the UN database.
December 2023: with over 20,000 people killed including over 10,000 children by Israel over 75 days, close to 2 million people displaced, thousands still under rubble, 50,000 injured, and infrastructure destroyed including hospitals, schools, places of worship, homes and utilities, Canada is complicit in both war crimes and genocide by allowing Canadian charities to support organizations supporting the Israeli military and illegal settlements.
#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.
Read more, and follow on Twitter.
Initiated by
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association
See other organizations supporting HERE.
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