CTV National News: Manitoba grand chief urges government action amid wildfire threat
CTV's Alex Karpa reports on families in northern Manitoba who fear renewed evacuations as wildfires threaten First Nations communities.
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CTV News
29 minutes ago
- CTV News
Chinese surveillance company Hikvision seeks to overturn ban in Canada
A Chinese flag hangs near a Hikvision security camera outside of a shop in Beijing on Oct. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Chinese tech behemoth Hikvision, one of the world's largest video surveillance camera manufacturing companies, is seeking to overturn the federal government's decision last month to ban the company from operating in Canada. Ottawa ordered Hikvision Canada to cease all operations and close its Canadian business at the end of June after a national security review determined allowing the surveillance technology company to continue its operations would threaten national security. In a statement released Monday, the company announced it has submitted to the Attorney General of Canada a notice of application for a judicial review of the June 27 Canadian government order. 'Hikvision Canada did so to vigorously challenge the Order and to uphold what we believe is right,' reads the statement. 'Through Canada's legal system, we expect a fair process.' The company said it is asking the federal court to pause the government order until its application for a judicial review is adjudicated, and that the company has reached an agreement with the Attorney General to resume normal operations until the court has ruled on the requested pause. 'Since entering the Canadian market, we have followed all applicable laws and regulations, and will continue to defend our position that Hikvision products and technology have not endangered the national security of Canada or any other country in which we operate,' reads the statement. Canada is not the first country to take aim at Hikvision's operations. In 2022, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission barred the sale or import of new equipment made by Hikvision, citing 'an unacceptable risk' to national security. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, who announced the initial Hikvision ban in June, did not provide a specific reason. 'This determination is the result of a multi-step review that assessed information and evidence provided by Canada's security and intelligence community,' Joly said in a statement announcing the ban. In January, the U.S. defence department identified Hikvision as having links to the Chinese military, and the company is a subsidiary of the state-owned firm China Electronics Technology Group Corporation. Hikvision has been identified in multiple reports as having links to the Chinese government's mass repression campaign against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in Xinjiang. 'The company took lucrative contracts with the government in the Uyghur Region to supply, develop, and directly operate mass surveillance systems, including those equipped with facial recognition capabilities. Hikvision's networks are installed in and around internment camps, schools, and mosques in the Uyghur Region,' reads a 2023 report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project. 'Research has shown that police across the Uyghur Region use Hikvision's surveillance cameras and software identifying and targeting Uyghurs as part of a mass surveillance and predictive policing system,' adds the report. Hikvision operates worldwide and the company says it provides products and services to more than 180 countries and regions.
CTV News
35 minutes ago
- CTV News
Saint John council set for final vote on Spruce Lake Industrial Park future
After passing the first and second readings of a proposed industrial park expansion on the city's western outskirts, Saint John City Council will have its third and final vote on the plan Monday night. In mid-June, councillors unanimously passed the first two readings that would see 1,500 acres of land in the community of Lorneville rezoned for heavy industry. The proposed expansion has been a highly debated topic since Lorneville residents were first given a letter about the plans in July 2024. The idea has been met with heavy resistance from much of the community. 'It's been, first and foremost, on our minds for over a year,' says Lorneville resident Chris Watson. 'The industrial park was basically thrust upon us out of the blue.' City staff held several meetings with the community, but Lorneville residents who attended those meetings have previously said they did not feel heard and the meetings felt more like a formality. Major concerns include the idea of heavy industry located in close proximity to people's properties, and the destruction of provincially significant wetlands. Watson also recently discovered a red spruce tree in an area of the forest under threat that is believed to be more than 400 years old, making it one of the oldest trees in all of New Brunswick. Acadian Forest Dendrochronology Lab lead at Mount Allison University Ben Phillips said the forest is the third-oldest age forest in the province based on the 20 oldest trees in the area. 'We're resoundingly against this,' Watson says. 'We will continue to fight and stand up for our community, and we're not we're not backing down.' The community still has many questions they say council has not yet answered regarding the proposed park expansion. The 71 total questions include what the business plan is, what will happen to the area's clean drinking water, and what is the plan for compensating any wetlands destroyed by the project. In late June, the Caribou Club – a land-based treaty education and recreation facility located about a half hour outside Fredericton – walked through the old growth forest. An invitation for the walk was extended to the mayor and members of city council but a letter directed to members of council states no one attended. The letter goes on to say the land is already developed with an old growth forest, and urged council to rethink the expansion idea on the property. 'You have considered the economic value but not the cultural or spiritual value of this forest,' the letter reads. 'Decisions about land use cannot be made in isolation; they must be based in a shared understand of the historical and contemporary significance of the land to all of us.' Watson says the land up for expansion is Crown land, and indigenous partners should be consulted as much as anyone. When asked about her decision to not attend the walk led by the indigenous group, Mayor Donna Reardon told CTV News Atlantic she had toured the forest ahead of the public hearings beginning in May. When asked for comment ahead of the final vote, the mayor said the 'appropriate approach would be to all the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) to be completed and formulate any required plans once there is a definitive report available.' Lorneville residents are hopeful the EIA will back their argument and save the old growth forest. Watson says residents have asked to speak with both the province's Environment Department and Natural Resources Minister John Herron on the file but have not heard back. There is no clear timeline for when the EIA will be completed. Lorneville A wetland in Lorneville, N.B., is pictured. (Source: Avery MacRae/CTV News Atlantic) For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CBC
38 minutes ago
- CBC
Alberta to hold nuclear power consultations as companies weigh opportunities
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government plans to hold public consultations this fall about adding nuclear power to the province's energy mix. There have long been discussions about building reactors in Alberta — including ones that could power oilsands operations — but the province is currently reliant on natural gas for electricity. Smith said industrial operations in remote areas like the oilsands could benefit from small modular reactors, which are built elsewhere and shipped to site. There is a larger-scale plant planned for northwestern Alberta that would have two twin Candu Monark nuclear reactors licensed for a maximum output of 4,800 megawatts. Smith said she initially thought the project planned for near Peace River would swamp the province's power grid, but now sees it making sense as an electricity-hungry artificial intelligence data centre industry begins to take root. The CEO of X Energy Reactor Co., a U.S. developer of advanced small modular nuclear reactors, said his company has its eye on Alberta as a growth market. Clay Sell said in an interview last month that X Energy is pursuing opportunities to add power to the grid in general, as well as to link to steam-assisted gravity drainage oilsands projects that pull bitumen from deep underground through wells rather than mine it. "Our plant is perfectly suited to perform that same mission on a small footprint," Sell said.
