Rural areas have no options without post offices
“To lose Canada Post means we have nothing.”
These words from Hudson’s Hope Director and Mayor Travous Quibell to his fellow board members at the Peace River Regional District board meeting last week expressed the deep concern of rural communities throughout the Peace Region, where, as in many rural communities across the country, Canada Post is the only service available for sending and receiving packages or priority level mail.
When the Minister responsible for Canada Post, Joel Lightbound, announced in September that the moratorium on rural post office closures would be lifted, communities throughout the region became concerned about how these changes would impact their communities.
Quibell said that this decision would result in a “complete cessation of shipping and postal service to our community. We have no couriers in the community. We have no bus service. We have nothing else.”
Area C Director Brad Sperling brought up the issue during the New Business portion of the October 16 meeting, alleging that Canada Post has a list of post offices it’s considering closing, including Altona, Buick Creek, Cecil Lake, Charlie Lake, Montney, Prespatou, Rose Prairie, Taylor, Hudson’s Hope and Tumbler Ridge. That’s in addition to retail outlets in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John.
This move, Sperling said, is “unacceptable in any rural area”.