At least two Canada Post workers were suspended over their refusal to deliver a flyer calling for a “child sex-change ban” in New Brunswick, according to a local union representative.
Saint John-area carrier Shannon Aitchison says she was suspended for five days without pay for taking a stand against the latest material from Campaign Life Coalition, a registered national lobbyist who has sent out three postcards across New Brunswick ahead of the province’s Oct. 21 election.
These postcards have accused teachers of “pushing transgenderism” and described gender-affirming medical care as “chemical and surgical mutilation.” The third and latest postcard states that “no child is ‘born in the wrong body,’” and that “God doesn’t make mistakes.”
“The third flyer was straight-up nonsense,” said Aitchison, who is the mother of a transgender child. “‘God doesn’t make mistakes,’ so you’re telling me my child is a mistake?
“I just looked at (the postcard) and thought I’m not giving this to people.”
Canada Post has maintained the content of the postcards doesn’t meet the criteria to be “non-mailable matter.” As a result, the Crown corporation has said it’s required to deliver the postcards even if their contents are objectionable to the organization itself, its employees or its other customers.
Five Saint John-area Canada Post carriers decided not to deliver the coalition’s latest postcard over the last week, according to Aitchison, who is the recording secretary for the local postal workers’ union.
Two of the carriers – one of those was Aitchison – were suspended, she said, while the status of another carrier remains in limbo. She told Brunswick News another two carriers used paid personal days, as recommended by management, to avoid working the window where the postcards were to be delivered.
In August, Campaign Life Coalition threatened legal action against Canada Post after the national postal workers’ union claimed some of its New Brunswick carriers had been given the “option” to not deliver the first postcard.
Canada Post never confirmed nor denied it gave that option to workers, while the union maintained that it didn’t give workers that “direction.”
“I am glad that Canada Post, as a federal government agency, is taking seriously its obligation to provide services equally to all Canadians. How it accomplishes that service obligation is up to CP,” Campaign Life Coalition spokesperson Jack Fonseca said in response to the suspensions.
Canada Post “simply does not have the right to engage in viewpoint discrimination,” added Fonseca, who is the coalition’s director of political operations.
Aitchison claims the latest flyer violates Canada Post’s own Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Charter. All Canada Post employees and customers are required to adhere to the zero-tolerance policy.
“Whoever vet this (postcard) did not do a good job,” said Aitchison, who has since returned to work and has been told she’ll be paid for her days off but is still grieving her suspension.
Canada Post didn’t confirm nor deny the suspensions when asked by Brunswick News.
The newspaper also asked Canada Post how the latest postcard doesn’t violate the Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Charter given that some of the protesting carriers themselves are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
In an email, Canada Post spokespersonValérie Chartrand said that “internal policies cannot supersede our responsibility as the national postal service to deliver items.”
“Our important and longstanding role to deliver the country’s mail should not be seen as tolerance or support for the contents of any mailing,” Chartrand said. “We are a neutral third party regardless of our views, with limited regulated exceptions on what can be mailed in Canada.”
More flyers on the horizon
Campaign Life Coalition has already registered as a third-party advertiser with Elections New Brunswick ahead of the Oct. 21 race, previously telling Brunswick News it plans to issue a voters’ guide and other materials.
Under third-party advertising rules, individuals and groups are entitled to each spend up to $17,600 province-wide on election advertising during the official campaign period.
However, Elections New Brunswick has acknowledged it doesn’t have the power to investigate complaints of collusion between groups, political parties and candidates to get around spending-limit rules. It also doesn’t have the power to levy administrative fines if parties are found to be in violation of the rules.
Elections New Brunswick asked for both of those powers in a 2019 electoral reform report submitted to the legislature. Only two out of 108 reform recommendations in the report were acted upon, according to Elections New Brunswick.
On the federal side, Fredericton Liberal MP Jenica Atwin has said she’s supportive of giving Canada Post more power to block the delivery of certain materials.
She’d like to see “hate speech” added to Canada Post’s definition of “non-mailable matter.” She told Brunswick News that would require legislative change.
However, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has maintained that the Crown corporation already has the power to turn away hate propaganda. In the case of the coalition’s first postcard, the union claims Canada Post’s legal services reviewed the postcard and determined its contents didn’t constitute hate speech.
Canada Post has never confirmed nor denied this claim when asked by Brunswick News.
“It’s very divisive,” Aitchison said of the coalition postcards. “Even the management on the floor, their hands are tied. They’re being told by someone higher up in the corporation that they must (deliver) and we’re like, ‘No, no, no.’”