As Canada Post’s labor dispute enters its second week, Canadians and foreign nationals say the mail outage is disrupting their lives in alarming ways.
Wenqi (Michael) Shu, a Chinese citizen, said he may lose his job. He arrived in Toronto three weeks ago to renew his U.S. work visa. He told CBC News he has been stuck in the city ever since, waiting for his passport to be returned to him through Canada Post.
Michael, who works in New York, said he traveled to Toronto because the United States requires people to renew their work visas at a consulate or embassy abroad.
Michael said he has spent “well” more than $4,000 on hotels, food and other necessities. “And it continues to grow,” he added.
In addition to the financial impact, Michael said he is worried about keeping his job because “my job basically doesn’t allow me to be here indefinitely.”
“I’ve lived in the United States for eight years,” he said. “I’ve lived most of my adult life in America. It’s my social support system – my friends and boyfriend. So if I lose my job, I lose all of that. .”
Michael said he believes in the right to unionize but is “imploring” all parties to labor disputes to “consider the human impact.” He also said he hoped the government could make other arrangements to get important documents such as passports to individuals.
On Tuesday, Employment and Social Development Canada announced that the Canadian government is withholding the mailing of 85,000 passports due to a labor dispute.
Canadians who have already submitted an application and are in urgent need of a passport should contact the Passport Program at 1-800-567-6868 or have their passport transferred to a Service Canada Center that provides pick-up services. You are asked to request it directly. .
waiting for birth certificate
In Belleville, Ont., Sharn Harrington-Hurst is waiting to receive her birth certificate so she can get a new health card, which she will need before surgery for a brain aneurysm.
Harrington-Hurst, 71, said she contacts the Ontario Registrar-General’s Office “at least once a week” to check the status of her birth certificate.
“But unfortunately, even if we could manage it, [the birth certificate]they can’t deliver it to me,” she said.
“I’m under a lot of stress,” Harrington-Hurst said. She said she couldn’t afford a courier to send the certificate and had to make arrangements to travel to Kingston, Ont. for surgery.
“I have three other surgeries pending, but unfortunately they all depend on this aneurysm being corrected first,” Dr. Hurst said.
Ms Harrington-Hurst said she understood the stance of the striking workers, as they were struggling to pay their own pensions.
“People deserve to get what they deserve for their work,” she says. “But some of us struggle every day.”
Canada postal employees keep delivering We may also check for government benefits such as Old Age Security, Canada Child Benefit, and Canada Pension Plan.
But other important payments, such as provincial income support and disability assistance, are not being delivered by Canada Post carriers. States and territories are making arrangements for these checks to be picked up at local government offices.
Charities that rely on donations by mail
Melanie Langille is president and CEO of NB Lung, a lung health charity in New Brunswick that provides patient support, public education, and advocacy programs.
Langille said many loyal, long-term donors, many of whom are elderly, send donations by mail. “Obviously, that’s on hold right now,” she said.
Langille said these donations will go toward direct financial support for people receiving lung transplants and can be used to cover transportation costs to Toronto or Montreal for the surgery.
“There are a lot of out-of-pocket costs that fall outside the scope of the public health system,” she says.
NB Lung has a staff of 10 and encourages donors to go online or call the charity. But Langille said with a donor list of 15,000 people, the effort is “certainly a daunting task.”
Langille also said the charity is not opposed to the labor movement and is “somewhat optimistic that the labor dispute can be resolved in a timely manner.”
“But there is certainly a trickle-down effect for small charities like ours,” she says.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Canadian Postal Workers Union said its negotiators met with a new federally appointed mediator and held separate discussions with the union and Canada Post.
“We remain committed to reaching a new agreement at the negotiating table rather than arbitration,” Canada Post spokeswoman Lisa Liu said in a statement Monday.