VANCOUVER -- A Surrey-based startup has officially received both Health Canada approval and CSA certification for its locally made respirator masks.
Eternity Medical Equipment was one of the first companies in British Columbia to produce N95-equivalent masks, called ECAN95.
The company opened a 13,000-square-foot facility in South Surrey in October.
Eternity CEO Jeffrey Wang said the $500,000 clean room, with two assembly lines, is producing 30,000 masks per day.
“We applied to Health Canada in August,” Wang explained. While they waited for approval, the company applied for CSA certification.
“We got our CSA approval and interim Health Canada order approval on the same day, Dec. 18,” Wang said.
The approval from Health Canada means the ECAN95 can be used by medical workers, and it appears on the agency’s list of authorized medical devices for uses related to COVID-19.
Eternity is one of 25 Surrey companies participating in the city-sponsored ‘Surrey Makes PPE’ initiative, which was launched in late April.
“It was to make use of the large manufacturing hub that we have here in Surrey,” said Surrey city councillor Allison Patton.
“What we’ve seen since April 23 is $12 million in PPE sales… and over a thousand full-time job equivalents were created,” Patton said.
Wang said his company employs 17 people, and expects to hire more as production ramps up.
“Right now we have a million respirators available for market.”
