Service Canada is postponing the shipment of 85,000 passports due to a labor dispute at Canada Post.
Employment and Social Development Canada said “in anticipation of potential labor disruptions,” Service Canada stopped mailing passport parcels on Nov. 8, one week before Canada Post employees retire.
Canada Post suspended mail delivery across the country on November 15 as tens of thousands of postal workers went on strike over pay, working conditions and other issues.
The closure will impact millions of Canadians and businesses across the United States, just as the busy holiday season begins.
Mira Roy, a spokeswoman for Employment and Social Development Canada, said in a media statement Tuesday that the passports will be sent to customers once the strike ends and postal services resume.
“By storing residential mail several days in advance of the shutdown, Service Canada reduced the risk of passports being held in Canada Post distribution centres,” Roy said.
If customers mailed their passport applications right before the strike began, Service Canada may not have received them, Roy said.
“In these cases, Service Canada will be unable to process applications until postal services are resumed,” she said.
Canadians who have already submitted an application and are in urgent need of a passport are asked to: Contact the passport program in 1-800-567-6868 Alternatively, you can directly request that your passport be transferred to a Service Canada center that provides pick-up services.
Canada Post workers went on strike early Friday after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced little progress had been made during negotiations. Stephen Tufts, a labor expert at York University, said that even though Canada Post knew it was in financial trouble, CUPW was unable to implement the large-scale efforts necessary to force Canada Post to change its business model. He said he was not building a national movement.
