A Canada Post mail carrier delivers packages in Montreal in November, 2024.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
In a roundabout way, making Canadians go down the street to get their mail could leave downtowns nicer places to walk. But don’t count on cashing that cheque because it might not come through.
Ottawa has proposed the end of home mail delivery in response to major budget problems at Canada Post. Moving the last four million households still getting mail to their door to centralized community mailboxes – the reality already for three-quarters of Canadian homes – is projected to save $400-million annually.
Some of that money should be earmarked for making sure the new pickup spots fit properly into dense city centres. Because the change is not without risk. Done wrong it will shrink further the miserly amount of space allotted to urban pedestrians – and may lead to breaches of accessibility law. If done right, though, it will preserve space for walking while also making city life more pleasant, healthier and more sociable.
Under the government of former prime minister Stephen Harper, Canada was moving toward having letters delivered to centralized spots. That shift was halted by Justin Trudeau after the Liberals took power in 2015. A decade later, a Liberal Party now led by Mark Carney is pushing ahead with the idea.
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In September, Joël Lightbound, the Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, announced an end to the moratorium on converting areas to community mailboxes.
For the households that could be switched to these mailboxes, the job will be complicated because where they have been installed to date is different from where the remaining ones must go.
Typically larger property sizes in suburban neighbourhoods means that a single community mailbox can serve a cul-de-sac or a whole block. With more space built into the layout of the streetscape – there is often a grassed area between the sidewalk and the road – there is an obvious place to put a box.
Urban neighbourhoods are different, and must be treated differently.
Big-city blocks might have 50 or 100 homes, meaning there would need to be either multiple boxes per block or one enormous one. Meanwhile, front yards are small and sidewalks often so narrow that only two people can walk side by side.
By law, Canada must be barrier-free to those with disabilities by 2040. Pinching already narrow sidewalks for boxes could block wheelchairs and set up these installations for legal challenge. Such an approach would also make it difficult for anyone pushing a stroller or cart to get by, and generally discourage people from walking.
Instead of throwing up roadblocks, Canada should be encouraging people to walk around their neighbourhoods. It can lead to social contact, which is psychologically beneficial. In fact, a community mailbox could be a place to connect with acquaintances. Walking is also healthy. A few kilometres per day has been linked to lower dementia risk and even just a five-minute stroll can boost brain health.
Luckily, most city streets have lots of space hiding in plain sight. In downtown Toronto, for example, a standard one-way residential street can measure over seven metres from curb to curb, enough for a garbage truck to get past a parked SUV with a few metres to spare.
So instead of putting a community mailbox on the sidewalk, put it on the road. Create what transportation engineers call a bump-out. These widened sidewalks commonly exist at the end of a block, making it safer for pedestrians by reducing the crossing distance.
Doubling the width of the sidewalk for a short stretch in the middle of the block would create ample space for a community mailbox. It would also have the positive effect of encouraging motorists to ease off the gas – because most drivers instinctively slow down when the road narrows – making it a bit nicer to walk along the sidewalk.
Canada Post may be tempted to install these boxes in the cheapest way possible. After all, the point of ending home delivery is to save money. Bolting a community box into the sidewalk is the simplest solution. But it’s the wrong one.
City councils should insist Canada Post does it properly and puts the boxes on the road. The result would be that the loss of one urban amenity – mail to the door – can help make urban life better in another way.