Police teams conduct surveillance above the Department of National Defence headquarters before the Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. The Department of National Defence says it is reviewing several contracts that were awarded to a company with links to China. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – The Department of National Defence says it is reviewing several contracts that were awarded to an Ontario company with links to China.
The review comes after Radio-Canada reported that Sinclair Technologies was awarded a separate contract to provide the RCMP with a radio frequency filtering system last year.
Its parent company, Norsat International, has been owned since 2017 by Hytera, a telecommunications firm in which the Chinese government has a 10 per cent stake through an investment fund.
Hytera technology has been banned from security and surveillance systems in the U.S. since 2021, when it was deemed a risk to national security.
The Defence Department says Sinclair has won a number of contracts over the past decade, including one last year for the supply of antennas.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says the federal government is looking at its dealings with Sinclair, and the way the contract was awarded to ensure proper security checks were done.
Sinclair Technologies, the RCMP and the Procurement Department have not responded to requests for comment from The Canadian Press.
Radio-Canada reported a statement by the RCMP that expressed confidence in the security of the system and that any contractors involved needed to obtain a security clearance.
Sinclair Technologies cited customer confidentiality in declining to answer Radio-Canada’s questions, while the Procurement Department told Radio-Canada it did not take security concerns and Sinclair’s ownership into consideration during the bidding process.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2022.
