As the Canada Post labour dispute approaches its second week, Canadians and foreign nationals are saying the mail stoppage is disrupting their lives in alarming ways.
Chinese national Wenqi (Michael) Xu said it might cost him his job. He landed in Toronto three weeks ago to renew his U.S. work visa. He told CBC News he’s been stuck in the city ever since, waiting for his passport to be returned to him through Canada Post.
Michael, who works in New York, said he travelled to Toronto because the United States requires that people renew their work visas at a consulate or embassy outside of the country.
Michael said that, so far, he has spent “well over” $4,000 US on hotels, food and other necessities. “And it continues to grow,” he added.
On top of the financial impact, Michael said he’s worried about keeping his job “because my work basically doesn’t let me be here indefinitely.”
“I’ve been in the U.S. for eight years,” he said. “I spend the majority of my adult life in the U.S. This is where my social support system is — my friends, my boyfriend. So I’ll lose all of that if I lose my job.”
Michael said he believes in the right to unionize but he’s “begging” all parties in the labour dispute to “consider the human impact.” He also said he hopes the government can make other arrangements to deliver important documents like passports to individuals.
On Tuesday, Employment and Social Development Canada said that Service Canada has been holding off on mailing 85,000 passports due to the labour dispute.
Canadians who already have submitted an application and need a passport urgently are being asked to contact the Passport Program at 1-800-567-6868 or make a request in person to have their passport transferred to a Service Canada centre that offers pick-up service.
Waiting on a birth certificate
In Belleville, Ont., Sharn Harrington-Hurst is waiting to receive her birth certificate so she can get a new health card — which she’ll need before surgery for a brain aneurysm.
Harrington-Hurst, 71, said she’s been in contact with Ontario’s Office of the Registrar General “at least once a week” to check on the status of her birth certificate.
“But unfortunately, even if they can process [the birth certificate], they can’t get it to me,” she said.
Harrington-Hurst said she’s “under quite a bit of stress.” She said she can’t afford to hire a courier to send the certificate and she also has to make arrangements to get to Kingston, Ont. for the operation.
“I have three other surgeries that I’m waiting for, but unfortunately, they all depend on this aneurysm being corrected first,” Hurst said.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is on strike. Here’s what they’re asking for, in their own words.
Harrington-Hurst said she understands the position of the striking workers since she struggles to pay her own bills on a pension.
“People are entitled to what they’re worth for the job they perform,” she said. “But there’s still some of us that are struggling every day.”
Canada Post workers are continuing to deliver some cheques for government benefits, such as Old Age Security, the Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Pension Plan.
But other critical payments like provincial income assistance and disability assistance are not being delivered by Canada Post carriers. Provinces and territories have made arrangements for those cheques to be picked up at local government offices.
A charity relying on mailed donations
Melanie Langille is the president and CEO of NB Lung, a provincial lung health charity in New Brunswick that delivers patient support, public education and advocacy programs.
Langille said a large number of loyal, long-term donors — many of them seniors — send their donations through the mail. “Obviously, that’s on hold right now,” she said.
Those donations go to providing direct financial support to people who are undergoing lung transplants and can be used to cover the cost of travelling to Toronto or Montreal for the operation, Langille said.
“There’s a lot of out-of-pocket costs that kind of fall through the cracks of what the public health system can cover,” she said.
NB Lung has ten staff members who are encouraging donors to go online or call the charity. But Langille said that outreach is “certainly a daunting task” as their donor list runs to 15,000 people.
Langille also said the charity isn’t opposed to labour action and she’s a “little bit optimistic that the labour dispute can be resolved in a timely manner.”
“But it certainly does have a trickle-down effect on small charities like ours,” she said.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said its negotiators met with a new federally appointed mediator who held separate discussions with the union and Canada Post.
Canada Post spokesperson Lisa Liu said in a statement on Monday that “we remain committed to reaching new agreements at the bargaining table, and not through arbitration.”