Neighbours are taking turns camping out at the future site of a community mailbox in Hamilton, Ont., in an attempt to stall its installation.
Protesters have been guarding the site at East 34th Street and Brucedale Avenue for three weeks, trying to prevent the installation of a "super mailbox."
The mailboxes are being installed as Canada Post replaces door-to-door delivery for 36,000 residents of the Hamilton area. The box was supposed to be installed by Monday, but protesters who live in the area are blocking access to the cement pad where it is intended to go.
The site has been guarded by unhappy residents of the area since June, but tensions increased last week with the arrest of a 69-year-old man. Police were called to the scene when contractors reported that the man was blocking the site by sitting on a lawn chair. Officers said he had also used a vehicle to block off the area.
After failed attempts to get the man to move, he was arrested and charged with mischief. An online petition is being circulated by residents of the area, asking police to drop the charges.
The site was guarded over the weekend by Ken Stone and Henry Evans-Tenbrinke, who said in a statement Tuesday that they'd managed to prevent the box's installation past the deadline to end door-to-door delivery in the area.
Stone said he and Evans-Tenbrinke stayed at the site Saturday and Sunday, and Canada Post's contractors had been turned away peacefully, "successfully forcing the corporation past its July 20 deadline."
On Monday, Evans-Tenbrike announced his occupation was over, and handed off to a group of neighbours who Stone said have set up a tent and are "having a mini-block party."
"The super mailboxes have still not been installed as of 1 a.m. today, July 21," Stone wrote.
As their protest continues, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) members are adding their voices to the protest against home delivery cuts. The unionized workers are asking Canada Post to stall the change until after the upcoming federal election, according to a statement issued Tuesday.
"The people of this country and most federal parties are united in their opposition to the home mail delivery cuts," CUPW National President Mike Palecek said in the statement.
"We all want a halt to the devastation at our profitable, public post office."
Palecek wrote that the Conservative government didn't warn workers about the "massive change," or consult Canada post prior to the decision.
The government has said that the move is necessary to Canada Post's financial survival, as more Canadians switch to electronic forms of communication.
The postal workers' union has filed a lawsuit asking the Federal Court to declare the cancellation of home delivery unconstitutional.
With files from The Canadian Press
