With little notice, we were invited to send a BCA Executive member to a meeting with Canada Post, hosted by Rick Chiarelli's office*. The purpose was to bring forward the concerns of Briargreen residents regarding the proposed Community Mailbox (CMB) sites. An email notice (Briarvine Extra) was sent out to residents, inviting them to share their concerns with us.
The meeting took place on Tuesday, May 5th at 2:15pm. We were allotted a half hour, as part of an afternoon of back-to-back meetings for which many other communities sent representatives.
In attendance were:
Terry Kelly, Delivery Planning Project Manager for Canada Post
Andrew Walasek, Municipal Engagement Manager for Canada Post
Councillor Rick Chiarelli and his staff members, Victoria Laaber and Nancy Cairns
myself, Remie Geoffroi, for Briargreen Community Association
Key points from the meeting:
- I relayed concerns expressed by Briargreen residents over certain mailbox locations, and passed a handout to all in attendance which included every email we received from residents, unedited (email addresses were withheld)
- My principal requests were for greater Information Sharing, Democratic Site Selection and/or Committee Consultation — none were entertained
- Canada Post still considers the site locations “fluid” and the locations won’t be solidified until month’s end (May 31)
- Canada Post refuses to deal with us as a community, and instead opts to deal directly with individuals (I challenged this as ineffective and what has caused us to be in the current predicament)
- I was shown an overview map of site locations but was not given a copy and was obstructed while taking a photo. The map showed Briargreen divided into roughly 18 colour-coded catchment areas, with a CMB box site in each area. Each site is to serve approximately 36 addresses
- An overview map of the sites proposed for the entire neighbourhood won’t be provided, reason given: locations are still fluid and this may prove confusing to some residents (I read this as their attempt to hinder our collective knowledge - Councillor Chiarelli noted his office had resorted to sharing individual "location access codes" to determine locations)
- Andrew Walasek admitted failures on their part, including improper delivery of site notices and inadequate responses to complaints
- the Glenbrook Way location came up more than once as a contentious site being reviewed
- Canada Post doesn’t believe we could achieve consensus as a community on box sites, which is why we haven’t been engaged in the selection process
Next Steps:
The Canada Post representatives committed to further reviewing and investigating our concerns.
To (hopefully) address the present lag in response, concerns can now be voiced directly to Terry Kelly and Andrew Walasek. I suggest email, so that you can CC Rick Chiarelli’s office assistants, who are now actively involved and monitoring progress.
For privacy reasons, email addresses and phone numbers will be provided to Briargreen residents upon email request.
Additionally, you may wish to consider contacting the Canada Post Ombudsman with your concerns.
*Special thanks to Councillor Chiarelli and his staff for providing the forum and opportunity to voice our concerns
