diff --git a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
index 64e913e5a5..60cb12b652 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ libopencv_headers = [
 
 
 gstopencv_cargs = []
-opencv_dep = dependency('opencv', version : ['>= 3.0.0', '< 3.5.0'], required : false)
+opencv_dep = dependency('opencv', version : ['>= 3.0.0', '< 3.5.0'], required : false, include_type: 'system' )
 if not opencv_dep.found()
-  opencv_dep = dependency('opencv4', version : ['>= 4.0.0'], required : opencv_opt)
+  opencv_dep = dependency('opencv4', version : ['>= 4.0.0'], required : opencv_opt, include_type: 'system')
   if not opencv_dep.found()
     subdir_done()
   endif