The message seems to be getting lost in delivery, but the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George board is continuing to send the message to Canada Post that it should be consulting with the communities affected by changes to local post offices.
During Thursday afternoon's board meeting, directors voted to send yet another letter to the Crown corporation, regarding the reduction of hours at rural post offices.
"The thing that concerns me is that Canada Post will not have public meetings in the communities where they're proposing to make adjustments for the services," said board chair Art Kaehn. "I think that would be a much more respectful relationship than what we currently have. They send us a letter saying this is what we're going to do because whatever and they refuse to meet the communities that they're adjusting the services in."
The Hixon, Dome Creek, Upper Fraser, McLeod Lake and Willow River post offices have all had changes to their hours made or proposed, some losing Saturday service and all having reductions to hours of operation.
"Post offices are a big part of rural living," Kaehn wrote in a June 9 letter to Canada Post president and CEO Deepak Chopra, regarding the Hixon office. "They keep our communities connected and provide residents with an integral service."
A July 13 reply from Susan Margles, Canada Post vice president of government relations and policy, notes that residents have access to their mail via the postal box lobby and that they determined "very few people visit the office on Saturdays."
"Like other organizations, we must ensure that we operate in a cost-effective manner while providing a high level of service," Margles wrote. "The challenge is that Canadians in all communities are changing the way they use the postal system."
According to a letter from the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association (CPAA), which bargains for more than 7,800 Canada Post employees, Canada Post had a mandate to close, privatize or amalgamate the country's 5,221 rural post offices under the Mulroney government.
Nearly 1,500 were closed between 1986 and 1994 before a change in government precipitated a change in orders.
A recent study into communities that had rural offices closed suggests there was a ripple effect created in that "when the population had to travel out of town to do their postal business, they tended to then do most of their other business outside their community as well," wrote CPAA B.C. and Yukon branch vice president Carolyn Elliot. "Local businesses suffered and many relocated, further isolating the community."
Canada Post is downgrading their current infrastructure by taking every opportunity to close federally operated rural post offices on Saturday, as well as reducing the weekly hours of service currently offered in smaller locations, said a CPAA flyer distributed in the Upper Fraser and Dome Creek areas.
Last year, Canadians mailed 1.4 billion fewer pieces of mail than in 2006, according to Canada Post.
"With Canadians as a whole mailing less and less each year, we have to make difficult decisions to secure the postal service for everyone," wrote Margles.
