Canada Post v. City of Hamilton Community Mailbox Placement Fight To Continue

Canada Post is ending all urban door-to-door mail service to five million Canadians in five years. Like any change in government services, the shift away from at home delivery is rife with contention and public outcry. At the centre of the anguish is Canada Post’s placement of the community mailboxes (CMB) that will be replacing at home delivery service. Municipalities are faced with the difficult task of reconciling Canada Post’s policy with existing regulatory policies and infrastructure. The City of Hamilton attempted to do so by passing a bylaw requiring Canada Post to apply for a permit, subject to approval at the discretion of the Director of Engineering for the City, prior to placing any further CMBs. The bylaw also included a $100,000 permit application fee, covering all proposed locations, and a moratorium on new placements intended to run for 120 days from the payment of the fee. In addition, the City filed a restraining order to prevent Canada Post from installing any further mailboxes without permits. Council member Terry Whitehead was quoted as saying “What's at stake here is that Canada Post feels it has the God-given right, and approach (sic) it with some arrogance, to put in super mailboxes”.

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