Canada Post strike leaves seniors, passport applicants in limbo

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As the Canada Post strike drags on, vulnerable groups, including seniors, as well as passport applicants, are bearing the brunt of delayed services. For seniors like Cecilia Lopes, a retired teacher living in Montreal’s West Island, the strike’s impact is deeply personal and financially destabilizing.

“I rely on a pension from Portugal, and they don’t offer direct deposits to Canadian banks,” Lopes explained. “The cheques must come by mail, and now they’re stuck. This threatens my subsistence.” She added that uncashed cheques may eventually be returned to their country of origin, creating bureaucratic nightmares.

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Seniors are among those who depend the most on traditional mail, relying on Canada Post not only for pensions but also for prescription medications and bill payments.

According to a 2023 Canada Post survey, Canadians aged 65 and older demonstrate higher dependence on physical mail, particularly for such essential documents as bills, government benefits, and personal correspondence. This finding is attributed to lower rates of digital adoption among seniors, along with a preference for tangible communication methods.

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Furthermore, pensions account for 15.1 per cent of household assets for seniors, highlighting their importance for financial security and underscoring the potential hardship caused by disruptions to mail delivery.

Lopes, who lives alone, expressed concern for others in similar situations, especially those without support systems. “For some seniors, this is a disaster,” she said.

Lopes’s situation is not unique.

Many seniors also depend on the mail for private pension cheques from employer-sponsored plans, unions, or insurance companies. Although direct deposit has become more common, not all providers offer the option, leaving mail delivery as the only method for some retirees. And while there isn’t a precise figure for how many seniors rely specifically on mailed pension cheques, Statistics Canada reports that more than 6.7 million Canadians were active members of registered pension plans in 2021.

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The strike is also having a significant impact on those awaiting time sensitive documents, including passports. Rishi Balani, who lives in Ottawa and is in Canada on a work permit, recently handed over her passport to Service Canada for visa stamping. Despite paying for expedited service, the passport remains undelivered.

Balani described the emotional toll in an email to public services minister Steven MacKinnon: “We’re being ping-ponged between Canada Post and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), with no resolution. This isn’t about gifts — this is about our identity.”

Although Canada Post has agreed to continue delivering domestic government pension cheques, Lopes criticized the lack of support for those relying on international payments. “Millions of Canadians have pensions coming from abroad,” she said. “The federal government needs to step in.”

• Email: shcampbell@postmedia.com

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