The federal government has ordered a Chinese maker of surveillance camera systems to shutter its Canadian business and leave the country over national security concerns.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in a post on X late Friday that the orders issued to Hikvision Canada Inc. are the result of a national security review under the Investment Canada Act.
As part of the review, Joly said the government looked at information and evidence provided by Canada’s security and intelligence community.
The government ultimately determined allowing the company to keep operating in Canada would be harmful for the country’s national security, she said.
Hikvision, whose formal name is Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd., describes itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of surveillance equipment. It’s had a Canadian subsidiary since 2014.
In the U.S., Australia and the U.K., the business and its subsidiaries have faced a battery of sanctions. Some stem from allegations that the company supplied the Chinese with surveillance cameras used in the Xinjiang region, where the Uyghur population has faced human rights abuses.