For Immediate Release

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is joining members of the Constance Lake First Nation to protest the lack of funding for a full-service post office on their land at 11:45 on Friday, September 4, 2009, at the Canada Post facility in Hearst Ontario.

Members of the Constance Lake First Nation have not had postal service in their community since November 2008.  They have been forced to drive over 80 kilometres a day to the Hears Post Office in order to send or receive mail.

“We are calling on Canada Post President, Moya Greene, to immediately meet with the leadership of the Constance Lake First Nation to arrive at a fair and just solution to re-establish a full, adequately funded post office for the Constance Lake First Nation,” said Mark Evard, Central Region National Director of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).

CUPW called for improved postal services on all Aboriginal reserves in its September 2008 submission to the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review.

“Canada Post is also making a bad situation worse by not properly staffing the Hearst Post Office,” said Evard.  “The Hearst Post Office, which does not have adequate staff to begin with, has been sorting and distributing the mail for 1,400 additional people.  This is putting unfair pressure on employees and affects their ability to provide prompt service for customers.”

“Canada Post needs to increase the staffing at the Hearst Post Office,” said Evard. “But more than anything, the corporation needs to understand that their mandate to provide universal service means providing full services to the members of the Constance Lake First Nation”

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