TORONTO -- Canada Post will not be delivering mail to a building in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood on a regular basis due to a lack of mask wearing.
In a statement, the Crown corporation said that employees expressed health and safety concerns that residents of an apartment complex, located near Lansdowne Avenue and Dundas Street West, were not wearing a mask while in common areas.
“Our health and safety committee has been working with building management to resolve this issue as soon as possible, to return to regular mail delivery at this address. For now, we are attempting delivery every day,” Canada Post said in a statement to CP24 Friday morning. “Our customers have been advised with a letter that when it is unsafe to deliver mail, mail delivery will be intermittent.”
A copy of the Canada Post letter was posted to a Facebook group called “Parkdale Community Updates” by a resident. In the letter, the agency says that when their employee tries to delivery mail at the building, they are “unable to maintain proper physical distancing with tenants who are not wearing a face covering as required by the municipality.”
“We recognise our delivery agent’s right to remove themselves from unsafe circumstances,” the letter said.
Residents were then told to pick up their mail and packages at a nearby Canada Post facility.
The letter ends with Canada Post urging residents of the building to wear a mask while indoors in public spaces.
“We do not want your service to be impacted, but we are wholly committed to protecting the health and safety of our employees and the communities we proudly serve.”
This is the second time in two months that Canada Post has had to issue a warning about mask wearing in Toronto. In December, the Crown corporation halted delivery to an East York apartment building over similar concerns.
In August, the City of Toronto implemented a bylaw requiring that everyone wear masks while inside lobbies, elevators, laundry rooms and other shared spaces of condo and apartment buildings.
Officials said last month they have received almost 2,000 complaints regarding people not following these protocols.
