Canada Post launches legal appeal over Hamilton community mailbox dispute

Canada Post has asked the Ontario Superior Court to declare invalid a bylaw from the City of Hamilton which aims to restrict the corporation’s ability to install community mailboxes. As previously reported, Canada Post has embarked on a nationwide programme of replacing doorstep mail deliveries with community mailboxes in order to cut its operating costs in the light of declining mail volumes. In the City of Hamilton area, this would entail the installation of about 4,000 mail boxes.

The City of Hamilton, however, has opposed the programme, arguing that there has been insufficient consultation with the public and that the installation and maintenance of the new mailboxes would incur “significant” costs for the civic authorities.

The City Council used the Roads Installation-Equipment Bylaw in a bid to stymie the mail box installation programme. However, Canada Post decided that it did not have to follow the bylaw and continued installing the mailboxes. The City Council responded by filing a restraining order against the postal corporation and laying eight charges of non-compliance. In the latest twist to the dispute, Canada Post hit back on Friday (24 April) by asking the Superior Court to declare the bylaw invalid.

Canada Post said that it “regrets that court action is required” but maintained that it has to continue its community mailbox installation programme because of an “urgent need to transform the postal business”.