Debian/Ubuntu isn't really the upstream of IceCat.
IceCat's direct upstream is Firefox, which is pulled down into Debian and
re-branded as IceWeasel. So for IceCat to get into Debian/Ubuntu this way,
the changes would have to be accepted upstream by Firefox. They would then
get pulled down into Debian Sid. I'm not sure how Ubuntu works - usually they
base on Debian Testing, but I have a funny feeling that they do something
wierd with the browser and use upstream Firefox directly IIRC.
What would be nice is for Debian to rebase IceWeasel on IceCat instead of
Firefox. Or better yet just *use* IceCat in their distro.