Cases highlight Canada Post carriers’ moral dilemma with delivering offensive material

Canada Post has had a rough year.

In addition to allegations of union busting, an impending Charter challenge and the charge that it is withholding public information about delivery complaints, letter carriers have refused to deliver material they deemed offensive twice in the past three months.

In June, six mail carriers in Saskatoon refused to deliver a graphic pro-life flyer featuring images of aborted fetuses and a statement indicating Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau supports abortion until birth. The flyers, which have been hand-delivered in other areas, were distributed in unsealed white envelopes and printed by the Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform, a Calgary-based advocacy group.

In early August, Canada Post reached a deal with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in Saskatoon that would allow the six concerned employees to not have to deliver the pro-life flyers. Instead, three other carriers volunteered to do those deliveries for them, a development Julee Sanderson, president of CUPW in Saskatoon, called a “rare compromise.”

And in Toronto, James Sears — publisher of the Your Ward News newspaper and leader of the New Constitution Party of Canada — accused “NDP-affiliated” postal workers of refusing to deliver 40,000 copies of his publication and political flyer. Your Ward News, which was recently investigated by the Toronto Police hate crimes unit, is well-known among east-end Toronto residents for its racist imagery and Nazi emblems.

Of Sears’ accusations, Megan Whitfield, president of CUPW Local 626, told Yahoo Canada News that an employee developed a rash while delivering mail that included the newsletter and, as a matter of protocol, reported it to the supervisor. An investigation into the ink used in the publication was undertaken and as a result distribution was delayed for a day or two.

“Delivery resumed as soon as it was cleared,” Whitfield said.

However, she acknowledged that some mail carriers have been unhappy about having to deliver the newsletter.

“There have been issues with Your Ward News,” she said.

Whitfield cited a number of occasions when mail carriers objected to content in the newsletter, but added that they do not censor mail in any way. Canada Post employees themselves have been targets of Sears’ ire.

“We’ve asked Canada Post numerous times to have it shrink wrapped [so carriers don’t have to see it], but they will not.”

The issue is by no means a new one.

In 2006, a mail carrier who objected to having to deliver a homophobic flyer in an area well-known for being home to Vancouver’s gay community was suspended. The employee was well supported by his fellow carriers and union and Canada Post was eventually forced to back down. In the end, management hand-delivered the pamphlets.

These cases do well to highlight Canada Post’s murky policies on mailable materials.

Canada Post is able to refuse delivery of illegal, fraudulent or obscene items; however, it does not define obscene. Mailings with unsolicited sexually explicit material must carry warnings, and Canada Post has been known to censor materials with sexual content.

Postal workers who take issue with the material they are asked to deliver have a few options. They may take up their grievance with the union or refuse to deliver altogether. Canada Post has said it will suspend any worker who neglects to fulfill their duties.

A representative from Canada Post maintains the Crown corporation is not in the business of censorship.

“We are responsible for the physical delivery of all mail in Canada. We do not have the legal right to refuse delivery of a mail item because we or other people object to its content,” said Carley Smith, Canada Post’s manager of media relations.

Jan Simpson, 1st national vice-president of CUPW, understands that a fine balance is needed between protecting the rights of mail carriers who deliver the mail and ensuring Canadians’ right to information.

“These are serious, not frivolous concerns,” she wrote in a message to Yahoo Canada News.

“It wasn’t easy for our members to be put in that situation. In both cases, letter carriers were concerned that delivering these publications might put them in a position of breaking Canada’s hate laws and nobody should be forced by their boss to break the law. In Toronto, postal workers faced harsh discipline from Canada Post managers for speaking out. In Saskatoon, Canada Post agreed that other postal workers could assist their co-workers so that nobody would be forced to handle the publication in question.”

“We are glad we were able to work out that compromise and call on Canada Post to show more concern for the postal workers it employs,” she added.