Canada Post apologizes for distributing anti-gay manifesto in Labrador

Canada Post is apologizing after an anti-gay flyer was distributed to residents of a small Labrador community. The eight-page manifesto was delivered to residents of Happy Valley-Goose Bay last week, stating in some detail that homosexuality was a sin.

According to The Pilot, the flyer was titled "Same-Sex Marriages and God's Word" and used biblical references to condemn homosexuality. The flyer also included statements claiming God hates homosexuals and that homosexuality is "almost always violent." A Halifax group called the People's Gospel Hour has taken credit for the flyers.

A Canada Post spokesperson apologized through the Canadian Press to anyone who was offended by the material. The spokesperson said they flyers never should have been accepted for mailing.

The bad press comes at inauspicious times for Canada Post. The agency is currently going through significant changes in a bid to cut operating costs. Most notably, Canada Post is phasing out door-to-door delivery in Canadian cities. But the transitional strategy also includes cutting its workforce and "streamlining operations," specifically how parcels and mail are consolidated and distributed.

While that plan may not have had a direct impact on the Labrador snafu, growing pains are bound to occur during the transition phase.

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This is not the first instances of alleged hate speech to be distributed in Canada, far from it, but it is notable that a local LGBT group is holding Canada Post to blame.

The Labrador Safe Alliance posted on Facebook that Canadian laws protect people from being inundated with such violence.

"I hope more people threw that flyer away, complained to their post office that it was ever placed in their mail box to begin with, and did not spread the hate further. Our youth and people of all ages deserve respect, safety, and freedom from discrimination," the post reads.

There is a distinct difference between freedom of speech and freedom of hate. People are allowed to publish opinions, but sending notably hateful material to the doorstep is beyond reproach.