BlackBerry : Statement on U.S. Immigration Ban

Like many of you, I am disheartened and do not agree with the sharpness of President Trump's executive order and immigration ban.

Many technology companies, both in the U.S. and in Canada, were founded by immigrants. At BlackBerry, more than half of the executive team and many of our employees - including myself - are immigrants, so we see firsthand every day the value and benefits of legal immigration. While there is a need to protect citizens, we must also preserve our strength in diversity.

In addition, President Trump has spoken of his desire to ease doing business globally, and this does not help in that regards. If this does not get resolved in a more compassionate manner, it will hurt trade, especially if the ban expands beyond these seven countries.

We hope that this new administration will find better ways to handle such matters in the future. I also encourage you to continue to seek out and build diverse teams. BlackBerry and the countries we live in will be better for this.

(Note: BlackBerry Chairman and CEO John Chen spoke earlier with BNN about these issues: http://www.bnn.ca/video/blackberry-ceo-on-trump-s-stance-on-immigration-it-will-hurt-trade~1046226)

John is a distinguished and proven leader in the technology industry. Prior to becoming Executive Chairman and CEO of BlackBerry in 2013, John was Chairman and CEO of Sybase Inc., which he re-invented, led to 55 consecutive quarters of profitability, and eventually sold for $5.8 billion. John has also been an executive at Siemens Nixdorf, Pyramid Technology, and Unisys. He is currently a board member at Wells Fargo and Company, Walt Disney Company, and various academic institutions and philanthropic enterprises.