Hikvision Booted from Canada in National Security Crackdown

The federal government has ordered Hikvision Canada to shut down its business in the country, citing national security risks.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly announced the decision on Friday, following a formal review under the Investment Canada Act. The review, based on input from Canada’s security and intelligence agencies, concluded that allowing Hikvision to continue operating in Canada would be harmful to national security. Hikvision Canada launched back in 2014, a division of the China-based company.

As part of the decision, all federal departments, agencies, and crown corporations are banned from purchasing or using Hikvision surveillance products. The government is also reviewing current equipment to ensure older Hikvision products are phased out.

“This does not apply to Hikvision’s operations outside of Canada,” Joly said in a statement. “But I encourage all Canadians to consider this decision when making their own choices.”

While Joly reaffirmed that Canada welcomes foreign investment, she made clear that national security remains a top priority.

Hikvision manufactures and supplies video surveillance equipment, including cameras and software, for security applications worldwide. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, China, and has ties to the Chinese Communist Party through its ownership and leadership structure.

It’s accused of enabling human rights abuses by providing surveillance technology used in China’s mass detention and monitoring of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang, leading to its placement on the U.S. Entity List (a trade restrictions list) in 2019. The European Union banned Hikvision products in April 2021 over allegations of potential espionage.

Hikvision said in a statement it disagreed with Ottawa’s decision, as expected. “We strongly disagree with this decision and view it with deep concern, as we believe it lacks a factual basis, procedural fairness, and transparency. Instead of evaluating our technology on its cybersecurity merits, the decision appears to be driven by the parent company’s country of origin, reflecting broader geopolitical tensions and an unjustified bias against Chinese companies,” said the company on Saturday morning.

Canada typically follows suit when the U.S. and EU makes a move, but this time it looks like we’re making a decision almost six years later after our allies did the same.