Canada Post suspends mail delivery, citing 'unsafe conditions' on a block of 20th Street West

Canada Post is suspending its mail delivery to businesses in the 1500 block of 20th Street West in Saskatoon due to "unsafe conditions."

It issued a notice on May 13, citing the need for a "delivery safety assessment." The notice said it wanted to ensure the safety of customers and delivery staff.

"Starting immediately, and for the duration of the assessment, please pick up your mail and parcel deliveries," the notice read.

The mail carrier has not specified what the issues are.

Among those who received the notice was Toby Esterby, chief operations officer of Saskatoon Community Clinic and director of West Side Clinic, who must now pick up mail at the Avenue H South depot between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., until further notice.

"It's a significant impact. We are a medical clinic. We have 7,000 patients. We see approximately tens of thousands of appointments every year," he said.

"We have communications, we have results. We have all these different things that may get communicated to us by mail. It's incredibly important to receive our mail on a daily basis."

Mail service is being discontinued for only the even-numbered addresses of the 1500 block of 20th Street West, which Esterby said "is literally one side of the street."

Toby Esterby, chief operations officer of Saskatoon Community Clinic and director of West Side Clinic, says Canada Post has effectively cut off mail for hundreds of people who depend for mail at their offices. He says he is 'disappointed by the short-sightedness' of the decision and hopes the mail carrier resumes the service soon. (Pratyush Dayal/CBC)

There are six organizations on that side of the street, including Prairie Harm Reduction, which receives mail at a different office, and St. Mary's Parish, whose address is based on Avenue O because of how its building is situated.

Esterby said essentially four businesses are affected by this suspension: Rexall Drugstore, Saskatoon Community Clinic, STC Health Centre and Pleasant Hill Dental Centre. Other organizations embedded in their building are being affected, too, he said.

The organizations on the block serve people who don't have homes or mailing addresses, he said, and would use the building's mailing address to get necessary deliveries, like health and identification cards.

"So, Canada Post has effectively cut off mail for hundreds of people that need to get their mail on a daily basis ... to navigate complex systems of social help, social assistance within the community."

There have been concerns raised with safely delivering mail to customers at three addresses on 20th Street West, said Valérie Chartrand, spokesperson for Canada Post, in an emailed statement.

"The health and safety of our employees is of utmost importance. Affected customers have been informed of the temporary mail delivery interruption while we assess the area regularly," she said.

"We take the temporary suspension of mail delivery and the well-being of our employees very seriously. Our goal is always to find a resolution as quickly as possible in these situations."

Esterby said he is "disappointed by the short-sightedness" of the decision. He said he is curious to learn the parameters of a safety assessment, and hasn't received a clear answer on what needs to change for mail service to be restored.

He said the neighborhood has already lost banking, income support programs, housing and shelter opportunities, over similar concerns.

LISTEN | 20th Street, through the eyes of residents and biz owners: 

"Now, we're losing Canada Post. What's next? Who's going to pull out next and abandon some of the most vulnerable folks that are citizens of Saskatoon?" he said.

"I'm frustrated by the singling-out of a neighbourhood. Not even a neighbourhood, but literally a side of the street. We're standing on the dreaded, even-numbered side of the 1500 block.

"There's so much fallacy in that it just doesn't make any logical sense."