Ottawa Orders Chinese Company Hikvision to Cease Canadian Operations

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Jun 29, 2025 - 09:54 Updated: Jun 29, 2025 - 09:50
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Ottawa Orders Chinese Company Hikvision to Cease Canadian Operations
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The Canadian government has ordered Chinese surveillance camera maker Hikvision to stop operatings in Canada, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said on Friday.

In a statement, Joly said the government ordered Hikvision Canada Inc. to “cease all operations in Canada and close its Canadian business” after conducting a national security review under the Investment Canada Act.

“The government has determined that Hikvision Canada Inc.’s continued operations in Canada would be injurious to Canada’s national security. This determination is the result of a multi- step review that assessed information and evidence provided by Canada’s security and intelligence community,” the minister said.

Joly said government departments, agencies, and crown corporations will be banned from procuring new Hikvision products, and a review will be launched to ensure legacy equipment from the Chinese manufacturer is no longer used.

She also said that while the order doesn’t extend to the company’s affiliate operations outside of Canada, she “strongly encourage all Canadians to take note of this decision and make their own decisions accordingly.”

Hikvision has not responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

In as statement published on Saturday, the Chinese Embassy in Canada criticized the decision, saying it disrupts trade cooperation.

The embassy said it will “take all necessary measures” to protect the rights and interests of Chinese companies.

According to an article published in December 2024 by state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, the controlling shareholder of Hikvision, the company stayed on top of the global video surveillance market for 11 years, with 27.5 percent of global market share. Since 2015, Hikvision has expanded into areas including the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and big data.

As one of the biggest suppliers of surveillance equipment in China, Hikvision has been accused of aiding the communist regime to suppress dissident groups and ethnic minorities.

Pennsylvania-based video surveillance information company IPVM said Hikvision has been a top supplier for the Chinese military, and has provided the regime with facial recognition technologies designed to enhance the interrogation of prisoners, to assist in the operation of concentrations camps in China’s Xinjiang region, and to track protesters and Falun Gong practitioners.

Conor Healy, IPVM’s director of government research, previously told The Epoch Times that Hikvision’s equipment carries significant security risks because it “consistently” had vulnerabilities in its software that open doors for hackers to access information.

Since 2019, the company has been blacklisted by a number of U.S. departments and agencies over security and human rights reasons, including by the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and Defense.

In November 2022, London also banned government departments and agencies from buying new Chinese CCTV cameras, including Hikvision cameras, and began phasing out legacy equipment. The UK government cited China’s national intelligence law, which compels all individuals and organizations in China to hand data over the the state when required to help with intelligence works.
Hikvision previously denied being complicit in human rights abuses. In December 2024, the company said it had exited contracts it had in Xinjiang via five of its subsidiaries.

Investment Canada Act

Under Ottawa’s Investment Canada Act, the government can review foreign investments for potential injury to Canada’s national security.
On March 5, the government issued updated guidelines on the national security review of investments. The new guidelines added economic security to the purview of national security and incorporated the government’s Sensitive Technology List, which includes advanced sensing and surveillance, and artificial intelligence and big data technology.
The update was made shortly after Joly said Canada was open to talks about matching U.S. tariffs on China.

The minister made the remark following intense negotiations between Washington and Ottawa after the United States imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and in response to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s call on the U.S. neighbors to build a “‘Fortress North America’ from the flood of Chinese imports.”

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