Ongoing labor dispute in the city Canada Post hurts Quebec charities who rely on timely mail delivery to support their operations, some of which are already suffering significant financial losses.
Rotational strikes and service delays have left many organizations struggling, especially ahead of the critical holiday giving season.
“It's impacting us greatly. And it's not the first time,” said Catherine Harel Bourdon, CEO of Little Brothers, a charity that provides services to seniors over 75.
The organization receives most individual donations by mail, and the last months of the year are especially important.
“Oh, 70 percent from October to December,” Bourdon told Global News.
She added that during the previous postal strike, Little Brothers saw a $200,000 drop in donations — a loss they are preparing for again this year.
The PalliAmi Foundation, which supports palliative care patients, says it faces a similar situation.
Receive daily national news
Get the day's top news, political, economic and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.
“It's big. It's really big,” said Line Bellavance, the foundation's executive director, estimating that last year's mail outage cost them between $40,000 and $50,000.
Unionized Canada Post workers and the Crown corporation have been negotiating for nearly two years, with on-and-off strikes throughout that period. The current rotating strikes follow a national strike in September.
Some postal workers say they understand the challenges this poses.
“Yes, it's a shame that there are charities and people who definitely need their things but aren't getting them,” said postman Lorenzo Baliello.
He suggested that organizations move to paperless systems, although he acknowledged that this is not always possible, especially for older donors.
Charities say they are trying to offer online and telephone donation options, but many older people are concerned about scams.
“So they put off donating or don’t donate during the year,” Bellavance said.
With donations in short supply, some charities have already begun cutting back their services.
“It affects real people’s lives,” Bourdon said.
For now, the organizations say they will continue to do everything possible to serve their customers, hoping for a quick resolution to the labor dispute and a more stable future for Canada Post.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
