Community Mailboxes and Accessibility

Canada Post’s five-point action plan to cut costs involves an important discussion on accessibility. As community mailboxes will replace door-to-door home delivery services, virtually all mail recipients will travel longer distances in order to reach their mailboxes. The question of adequate access then arises. Constitutional lawyer Paul Cavalluzzo challenges, “Can you imagine a disabled person in a wheelchair trying to get over a snowbank in front of a community mailbox? Community mailboxes are not an adequate accommodation.” In order to avoid this potentially drastic disadvantage, Canada Post will provide an extra key for trusted affiliates of individuals with disabilities that prevent mailbox access. Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton shares, “With the amount of mail on the decline year after year, we have to make changes in order to secure postal service for all.” The post office will also accommodate with once-a-week home delivery to individuals with disabilities who provide doctor’s notes.