by Lori Thompson
TEHKUMMAH—Tehkummah Community Hall was the site of a Town Hall meeting hosted by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Local 612, on Saturday, July 5. The meeting was held to discuss announcements made by Canada Post in December 2013, including the loss of 7,000 jobs and an increase in postage costs, as well as the possible changes and effects these announcements many have on Manitoulin Island.
“We’re here to talk about the Tehkummah Post Office,” Dave Merrick, president of CUPW Local 612, explained to the audience, “to talk about the future of the post office. Last month I saw an ad looking for a Tehkummah postmaster and decided to investigate further. I thought that if didn’t get (the position) filled the post office would go.” Mr. Merrick spoke with Clive Henderson, local area superintendent at the Sault Ste. Marie office, on Friday, July 4. “He said he was on his way to an interview for a Tehkummah postmaster. He wouldn’t tell me who it was. We hope that they do actually fill the position. We don’t want to get rid of the post office here. That’s how you get rid of communities.”
That’s what the representatives of CUPW and Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes were there to discuss: how to save local postal services and how to work together to maintain communities. Canada Post unveiled a five-point action plan on December 11, 2013. That plan included the elimination of all door to door mail delivery (excluding rural mailbox delivery) with a conversion to community mailboxes. The plan also included a postage rate increase, the elimination of post offices and reductions in hours of service. Most communities on Manitoulin Island have already been affected by one or more of these changes.
“Today we’re hoping for input from the public,” stated Mr. Merrick. “The union wants Canada Post to get back into banking services, they’ve done it before, but the last one closed in 1967. Canada Post has been self-sufficient since they’ve been a Crown corporation. They’ve only lost money two years since then: last year and the year they locked us out. We agree that there’s a decline in the amount of mail but people are still using the post office. They’ve increased prices and are providing less service. The people who use the service should decide on the services provided, you’re the stakeholders. The corporation never went to the public for their opinion. Basically, we really want to find out what the general public wants.”
MP Carol Hughes thanked the union and audience for inviting her. “The NDP has been raising this in Parliament,” she said. “They’ve raised the price of stamps. If not enough people are using the postal service, why would you raise the rate? It’s a further deterrent to use it. The government and Canada Post are talking about a decrease in letter mail, but there’s an increase in the number of parcels. People are ordering online. They’re trying to get people to pick up parcels at local businesses or drug stores. For example, in Timmins the post office is across the street from the drug store. They moved parcel pick up to the drug store and then they turn around and say the post office is not a viable business. We’re certainly supportive of keeping post offices open.”
Ms. Hughes questioned Canada Post’s financial status. “For Canada Post to say they’re not making money,” she said, “we have to question that. Their last report omitted the Christmas rush. It was released before the Christmas rush and did not include those amounts. They are a profitable corporation. For them to keep reducing service and good jobs moving to part time with less hours, then people have to look elsewhere for jobs. We need to sensitize people a little more. We need to hear about it.”
Ms. Hughes affirmed NDP support for post offices to provide banking services. “Banking is a viable option,” she said. “It used to be in small communities and was an asset to those communities. In New Zealand they’re making a profit doing it, in Britain too. They’re doing phenomenally.”
An audience member asked for clarification on banking services. “They have payday loans where they charge you 20 percent,” Mr. Merrick explained. “We’re asking why doesn’t the post office get into that and charge lower rates? The post office used to have banking, and it was good, but they got out of it. We’ve been lobbying. Why have private industry do it when you can have the taxpayer do it? You can still have 10 percent going back to the community.”
[pullquote]“Other G7 countries have gone that route,” Ms. Hughes said. “If Switzerland can do it, why not Canada? In the ‘60s you could actually get bank accounts at Canada Post. For small communities that’s a very positive thing. Keep in mind, it’s about service. It’s also about jobs and keeping them local.”[/pullquote]
“Other G7 countries have gone that route,” Ms. Hughes said. “If Switzerland can do it, why not Canada? In the ‘60s you could actually get bank accounts at Canada Post. For small communities that’s a very positive thing. Keep in mind, it’s about service. It’s also about jobs and keeping them local.”
Mr. Merrick argued that Canada Post is better positioned to provide letter mail and parcel deliveries than other companies. “We already do it for UPS, FedEx, CanPar—they send it to the post office to deliver (to remote areas) because it’s cheaper. Why don’t we take that service on ourselves? We need to take it on. We have to get back to the idea that people need to be employed.” He explained that in many areas, Canada Post is hiring private contractors to deliver parcels on routes where Canada Post letter carriers are already delivering mail.
Paul Bowerman, a Tehkummah councillor who attended the Town Hall, shared his frustrations in dealing with Canada Post. “Back in January we received a notice about the reduction in hours and Saturday closure,” he said. “We’ve been communicating back and forth against the reduction of hours and loss of Saturday hours. We as council have made motions to work with Canada Post to preserve what we had. We offered space in our municipal office building if it was needed. No one from Canada Post has ever come to talk to us.” Mr. Bowerman said that petitions were circulated for both the South Baymouth and Tehkummah post offices and 151 signatures were collected. That was in March, before all the seasonal residents who use the post offices had returned. The petitions were forwarded to Canada Post.
“You need to send them to me,” Ms. Hughes said, “and I get to table them in the House of Commons.”
“We need to educate people on what they can complain about,” she said. “We have to go through freedom of information to find things out. You need to send me your concerns. If we keep it to ourselves nobody will know.”
Tehkummah resident Andy Bowerman was concerned that “a lot of post offices are not open at noon, and they’re not open Saturday. That does not accommodate the working person.”
Ms. Hughes explained that her office had acted on behalf of the Kagawong and Little Current post offices with some success. Silver Water was also successful in negotiating postal service hours and a location for their community. “All communities are different,” she said. “Why aren’t they coming to the communities? They need to work with the communities. What would the best hours be to provide the services. It used to be that way, now it’s about providing less service.”
Other concerns that were raised were liability issues involving property and maintenance around community mailboxes (CMB) and the fact that there are only two parcel compartments for every three CMB modules, so if someone takes the key home, you can’t access your parcel. Another issue is central processing. Effective October of this year, all mail from the Sudbury district, including Manitoulin Island, will be processed in Toronto. A letter that now travels from Mindemoya to Gore Bay will travel from Mindemoya to Toronto before reaching its Gore Bay destination.
Phil Marsh added, “They have an obligation to meet peoples’ needs. Within a community, mail should take two days; within the province, three days; and within Canada, five days. This is their mandate. One-and-a-half weeks is completely unacceptable. It’s up to us to keep track and bring it forward to parliament and to Canada Post.”
Andy Bowerman told the meeting, “last night I made 12 calls. Out of 12 only one said they had seen the notice in the paper. The rest said they we’re not going to go, they’ve already got their minds made up.”
“That is exactly what they want you to do,” said Ms. Hughes. “You can’t leave it. We just cannot give up. This is going to affect small communities across the country. We need to continue to fight.”
An invitation was extended to Canada Post to attend the town hall, however there were no representatives present for comment.
That same day, from 1 to 5 pm, a town hall Canada Post discussion was also held by CUPW at the Gore Bay Legion hall.
