Joly says it’s ‘unacceptable’ that government offices continue to use banned Chinese cameras

OTTAWA — Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says it is “unacceptable” that some federal government organizations continue using Hikvision cameras that she declared banned from Canada last year.

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Last week, National Post reported that despite gear from Chinese surveillance camera giant Hikvision being banned from federal properties in June 2025 on national security grounds, at least two agencies — the National Research Council and the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority — continue to use them.

It also reported that the partly Chinese state-owned company operated “illegally” for nearly one decade in Canada despite growing security concerns within and outside of government about the security of Hikvision products.

The National Research Council told National Post last week that the organization removed all Hikvision gear from its security systems in 2025, but continues to use them to monitor “non-sensitive experiments and work areas.” A spokesperson confirmed that the remaining Hikvision cameras would be removed from operation by the end of the year.

“This is unacceptable,” Joly responded in a statement provided by her office. In addition, she said she had told her department — which oversees the National Research Council — “that these cameras need to be removed.”

Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, who oversees the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, was far less categorical.

The bridge authority, which oversees the crucial Gordie Howe International Bridge linking Canada and the U.S., confirmed to National Post that it still used Hikvision cameras in a community meeting space and would do so until November.

In a statement, Robertson’s spokesperson Jenna Ghassabeh touted “significant progress” in removing existing Hikvision equipment on government-owned and -leased properties.

“The office where legacy products exist and are being removed is one where only public non confidential information is managed,” Ghassabeh wrote. “To reduce risk exposure during replacement, interim mitigation measures, including the disconnection of internet connectivity and remote access capabilities have been explored at all sites.”

Following National Post’s reporting, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of ignoring the plight of Chinese minorities (Hikvision is reportedly involved in mass surveillance of Uyghurs in China.)

“Meanwhile, as everyone tries to grasp the extent of China’s obvious intrusion into the affairs of Canada — and, to a lesser extent, Quebec —Prime Minister Carney is fixated solely on China’s financial clout and his desire to forge closer ties with the country,” Blanchet wrote on X.

In June 2025, Joly issued a federal ban on Hikvision Canada — a global leader in surveillance camera gear that is partly owned by the Chinese government — due to risks of espionage and mass surveillance on behalf of the People’s Republic of China.

She gave the company 120 days to pack its bags and shut down its Canadian operation. The order also demanded that the federal government — including agencies and Crown corporations — essentially strip all existing Hikvision cameras out of its offices.

Hikvision is currently contesting the order in Federal Court and has denied all the government’s allegations against its products.

Of the nearly 15 government bodies who declared using Hikvision gear in their offices in 2024, the majority told National Post that the gear had since been removed.

But five of those organizations refused to say if they had complied with the federal government’s diktat.

They are Canadian Space Agency, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Environment and Climate Change Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Parks Canada.

That is unacceptable and raises serious questions about the Liberals’ handling of the file, according to Conservatives.

“After a year and a half, they cannot even confirm whether they have removed security cameras from government buildings. If they cannot give Canadians a straight answer on something this basic, why should anyone trust them to deliver on the rest of their promises?,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s spokesperson Sam Lilly said in a statement.

Michael Kovrig, CEO of Kovrig Group and a former Canadian diplomat infamously imprisoned by China from 2018 to 2021, said that Hikvision gear should be long gone from federal government buildings.

That’s even more the case when the Chinese government refuses to allow foreign camera manufacturers to bid on domestic contracts.

“Equipment made by a company that has to obey the Chinese Communist Party and its intelligence laws has no place in government facilities, and Canadians should think hard before putting it in their own private buildings,” Kovrig told National Post.

“A state that won’t tolerate foreign cameras and network gear in its own systems has no standing to demand that Canada tolerate Chinese surveillance tech.”

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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