“The Canada Post office in Dorion, Ontario is about to close – forcing families to drive up to 75 kilometres just to pick up a package. That’s despite the fact that Canada Post has claimed there is a moratorium on the closure of rural post offices,” Hyer said in Question Period in the House of Commons today.
“Mr. Speaker, postal service is vital for rural families, and especially seniors, in communities like Dorion – they shouldn’t have to drive an hour just to get to the post office. Can the Minister stand up and assure Dorion families that their post office will not close?”
Hyer says, “Last year 37 different towns across Canada lost their post offices or outlets, even while Canada Post raked in $233 million in profit. Onerous requirements for opening and maintaining a postal outlet, such as strict hours of operation or expensive displays, counter space and computer systems, mean that smaller businesses such as those common in rural communities are effectively shut out of opening a postal outlet if the community’s current post office closes”.
“Canada Post has a responsibility to provide adequate service to rural Canadians, but it seems they are only paying lip service to their policy of no rural closures,” argued Hyer. “Forcing rural residents like those in Dorion to drive to another town for basic postal service – in an area with high fuel prices, long winters and limited transport options – is not fulfilling their obligations. But I intend to keep working with all parties involved until we resolve this.”
Hyer has met with Canada Post officials as well as local residents, business owners and mail carriers, and suggested that the crown corporation show some flexibility in order to ensure a new location in Dorion is found. So far, no replacement location has been announced.
The community has had a Post Office since 1906. “The Township of Dorion was named after the Honourable Sir Antoine Aime Dorion, Canadian Lawyer and Statesman. On October 11th, 1893 the township was offically declared open for settlement allowing the first settler, John Stewart, to file location papers on a property just west of the CP railway on the banks of the Wolf River. In 1901 the population had reached 21 people, and by 1911 just 10 years later, the population had reached 216 people. The years covering 1893-1910 saw alot of social and economic infrastructure development from the establishment of Dorion’s first public school in 1904 to the opening of the Dorion Post Office in 1906”. (Source: Dorion township website)