OTTAWA – A Chinese maker of surveillance camera systems says the national security review process that led the federal government to order it to shut down its Canadian operations was unfair.
Hikvision makes the arguments in a court filing challenging a June 27 federal government directive ordering it to close down its business in Canada.
The company said the review process was procedurally unfair, the conclusion it reached was unreasonable and the government directive was based on incorrect assumptions.
Hikvision, which describes itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of surveillance equipment, has had a Canadian subsidiary for the past decade. It said in the court documents Hikvision Canada has 66 full-time employees.
End users of its products are mostly “non-critical small and medium businesses, such as hotels, condominiums, convenience stores etc.,” it said.
Its products were being offered for sale by at least one major Canadian retailer until recently. A spokesperson for Best Buy Canada said the company stopped selling Hikvision products on July 1. A spokesperson for Home Depot declined to answer when asked whether the company stopped selling Hikvision products.
The company said Industry Minister Mélanie Joly abruptly concluded the review, did not properly communicate deadlines and declined to consider additional information the company wanted to provide.
Joly said in an online post following the shutdown order that the government looked at information and evidence provided by Canada’s security and intelligence community.
