The grouping of the country’s largest security firms has just banned the Chinese firm Hikvision from all its events, in the face of indignation from its industry following our report on its links with this controversial camera manufacturer.
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“Hikvision will no longer sponsor any trade shows or activities anywhere in Canada,” Canadian Security Association (CANASA) spokesperson Patrick Straw confirmed to us.
Last week, we revealed that CANASA had accepted financial support from the company Hikvision, which was to co-present its congress, described as the most important security exhibition in Quebec, on April 24, in Laval.
CANASA has existed since 1977 and represents more than 1,000 Canadian companies in the security field, including GardaWorld, Gardium Security and Commissionaires.
The angry industry
Our report sparked the ire of several security experts.
“The physical security industry will have to wake up. This news makes the entire industry look bad: from exhibitors to participants who explicitly accept this association,” wrote the former strategic advisor to the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs of Quebec (MCN) and lecturer at HEC on LinkedIn. Montreal, Francis Coats.
Other industry players, such as the Quebec Private Security Bureau and even the company that co-presented the event with Hikvision, Genetec, expressed their concerns to CANASA.
“We were shocked and concerned by both Hikvision’s participation in the CANASA event taking place in Laval in April, but also by Hikvision’s continued presence with CANASA across Canada […] Genetec has adopted a strong position vis-à-vis this supplier […] In 2016, we were the first company to publicly raise concerns about Hikvision,” commented Christian Morin, Chief Security Officer at Genetec.
The fact that CANASA now refuses to partner with Hikvision does not mean, however, that its member firms will also stop using the Chinese company’s products.
Quebec banned Hikvision from public contracts last December. The Chinese company also has restricted access to the United States and Australia for national security reasons, and it has been accused in the past of participating in the repression of the Uyghur minority in China.
Recently, we reported that China could use Hikvision cameras to spy on Canada, according to a security alert sent last year by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to the Quebec government.