Ottawa Hired Chinese Contractor Blacklisted by Allies: Federal Records

The Parliament Buildings in Ottawa in a file photo. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)

Ottawa hired a Chinese contractor blacklisted by Canada’s allies for being a Russian war collaborator, according to federal documents, which also show that payments were made after sanctions were implemented.

“The Government of Canada has a standing offer for commercially available and pre-existing satellite imagery with a company called China Head Aerospace Technology Co. (HEAD Aerospace), which has been added to the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List,” said a June 13 question period note, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

HEAD Aerospace, founded in 2007, is headquartered in Beijing and has subsidiaries in Hong Kong, France, and the Netherlands, according to the company’s website.

The Department of Natural Resources hired HEAD Aerospace “for commercially available and pre-existing satellite imagery” of Canadian forests on Jan. 16, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

About a month later on Feb. 24, the U.S. Commerce Department added HEAD Aerospace to its Entity List, blacklisting it, along with other companies, as a threat to national security.

“These additions are based on information these companies significantly contribute to Russia’s military or defence industrial base and are involved in activities contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” the Commerce Department said in a notice titled “Addition Of Entities To The Entity List.”

Before HEAD Aerospace was added to the U.S. Entity List, there was one call-up against the standing offer made to the company in the amount of $41,367, the question period note said. The payment was seized by U.S. authorities, and no other call-ups regarding the standing offer have been received since.

“Payment has not been received by the supplier as the funds are with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets,” the note said. “Canada is actively exploring options on next steps.”

The Epoch Times reached out to National Resource Canada for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

The federal government has touted tough sanctions against Russian businesses.

“We have used both sanctions and punitive economic measures to continue to deplete the Kremlin’s war chest,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons on March 23.