Letter to federal and provincial governments to consider textile and apparel companies as "essential services".
March 23, 2020 – Canadian textile industry association (CTIA) and all other associations and research, development and innovation Centers in Canada, all dedicated to textile and apparel industries growth, urge federal, provincial and local governments to deem textile and apparel manufacturing facilities as “essential” in order to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
Our organizations recognize the extremely serious challenges our nation is facing in order to protect Canadian communities.
Our members play a crucial role in the whole textile supply chain by making a broad range of inputs and finished products used in an array of personal protective equipment (PPE), first respondents’ protection and medical textile products, including materials for surgical gowns, face masks, antibacterial products, lab coats, hazmat suits, etc.
All these textile based items are vital to the government’s effort to ramp up emergency production of these critical supplies.
If workers who produce these goods are not granted an “essential” exemption from quarantine orders, it will cause major disruptions in the availability of these goods. This will create significant hardship to healthcare providers and consumers across the country that depends on steady and stable supplies of these critical items.
We are asking a clear exclusion of our manufacturing operations from quarantine orders as the textile products that we produce in Canada play an essential role in mitigating the shortages of critical supplies.
Such a designation will help Canada to avoid disruptions of vital goods during this challenging time.
About the CTIA
The Canadian Textile Industry Association (CTIA) represents Canada’s primary textile producers – a group of innovative manufacturing companies producing high-quality, value-added textiles.
Download the press statement (PDF)
