Their panniers are made in Canada and the company is Canadian, based out of Sherbrooke, Quebec. All of their products have a lifetime warranty.
Ontarians get a lot of their oil from red states like Texas, North Dakota, and Indiana since we don't have the infrastructure to only use Canadian oil. Similarly, Quebec gets the majority of its oil from the USA and Algeria.
For Ontarians who live in cities where many trips are within a few kilometres, replacing the occassional car trip with a bike ride will reduce our dependance on American gasoline. If Ontario uses less gas, then we will cut down on American oil imports while the core stays from Canadian sources.
Lastly, having the ability to get around by bicycle builds resilience so you have a backup option if oil prices suddenly skyrocket, you suffer job/financial loss, etc. At the risk of changing topics, do not discount public transit either which supports local jobs and your municipal economy.
Lifetime warranty AND Canadian? Amazing! The ones I really like are sold out but I think I'll be placing an order for when they're ready!
Many local bike shops sell them so it's worth asking to support local. I find the Arkel cam mechanism with the hook to be much quicker, easier, and more durable than Ortlieb panniers. It goes on and off my rack in literally 2 seconds.
I actually regret purchasing an Ortlieb bag years ago, although those German-made bags are high quality too.
As much as I'd love to have an Ortlieb bag because of the variety they offer, it's extremely hard for me to move away from the cam lock system that Arkel has.
I think it may be possible, in theory, to replace the Ortlieb hook mechanism with the cam lock, since Arkel sells the cams as a separate accessory. Having replaced small cam locks for larger (e-bike style) cams, it's very easy and honestly looks like it can be done on non-Arkel bags.