The City of Surrey was presented with the 2021 Willis Award for Innovation (100,000+ population) for its Surrey Makes PPE initiative. The award was presented today at the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators Virtual Awards of Excellence Ceremony. The Surrey Makes PPE initiative was launched in April 2020 to meet the demand for Made-in-Canada PPE.
“It is fitting that Surrey Makes PPE has been recognized for the Willis Award for Innovation, because our City takes great pride in being innovative and thinking outside the box,” said Mayor Doug McCallum. “The Surrey Makes PPE program was created during the early months of the pandemic last year when there was an acute shortage of PPE supplies in Canada and manufacturing in many sectors had slowed to a halt. During this uncertain time, our PPE program helped local manufactures to pivot and produce much needed items, while maintaining and creating jobs. On behalf of the City of Surrey, it is an honour to accept this award.”
The only municipal program of its kind in North America, this is the third recognition awarded to Surrey Makes PPE. Earlier this year, Surrey Makes PPE was awarded the 2020 UBCM Community Excellence Award: Excellence in Service Delivery and the BC Economic Development Association’s Award for Economic Resiliency and Recovery Award.
“Surrey Makes PPE came to be at a critical time when Canada was experiencing a shortage of PPE supplies at the onset of the COVID pandemic,” said Councillor Allison Patton, Chair of the Agriculture, Environment and Investment Committee. “I want to commend our Surrey manufacturers for stepping in at such a critical time to produce quality Made-in-Canada PPE supplies to protect our health-care professionals, frontline workers, and essential businesses. I’d like to thank CAMA for recognizing our unique and timely initiative with this national award.”
Since launching in April 2020, this initiative has supported 140 local jobs and sold over $12.5 million worth of Made-in-Canada PPE:
- 60,000 N95 equivalent face masks
- 20,000 non-medical masks
- 320,000 face shields
- 1,000,000 litres of disinfectants and hand sanitizers
Learn more about Surrey's COVID-19 response
