2022-10-26

Brooklyn post office shuts down; no deadline for replacement boxes

by KEVIN MCBAIN

  • <p>SOURCE: Canada Post WEBSITE</p><p>The Canada Post office in Brooklyn recently shut down and will now be replaced by community boxes such as these.</p>

Editor's note: On the front page of the Oct. 26 paper edition of the LighthouseNOW, it mentioned the community of Milton in a few places including the headline. The closure is only effecting the Brooklyn post office. LighthouseNOW apologizes for this error.

BROOKLYN – Here one day, gone the next.

Residents of Brooklyn who were getting their mail through post office boxes were notified by a letter dated Oct. 7, which many received Oct. 11 that the office, located inside the building operated by Wa-Su-Wek Limited, would be closed by the noon Oct. 12.

People were notified by letter and flyers posted on-site. Canada Post did not initiate the closure.

"We can confirm that due to reasons beyond our control, we were notified that the Brooklyn Post Office would close at the end of the day Wednesday, Oct. 12. We have communicated with municipal leaders to discuss the future of postal services in their community," said Phil Legault, spokesperson for Canada Post in an email.

"With no other businesses in Brooklyn to host a post office and to maintain local mail delivery, we will be installing community mailboxes on the same property where the current post office is located."

Legault could not confirm a timeline for the installation of the boxes.

Vicki Amirault, Region of Queens Municipality council for District 4 said it was a shock to hear that it had closed, and closed earlier than announced.

"I only found about the closure form a letter that one of my residents forwarded to me on Oct. 11," she said in a social media reply. "The next day, Oct. 12, residents were calling me around 10:30 a.m. letting me know that the post office was closed."

They weren't happy.

"This is drastically impacting residents, it happened so quickly. I immediately called Canada Post and I was told it was very sudden and they were working on a solution."

Amirault has kept her constituents informed of the situation through her Facebook page.

The closure affects about 300 customers.

"The residents definitely do not want to travel to Liverpool for their mail, but travel is not the only issue here, we only have a limited amount of parking spaces at the Liverpool post office, which means it would leave the residents having to walk quite a distance to get their mail."

In the meantime, customers are asked to pick up their mail and parcels at the post office in Liverpool.

Those that currently have their mail delivered directly to their homes are not affected.

Calls and emails to representatives of Wa-Su-Wek Limited, owned by the Zone 9 Native Council of Nova Scotia, were not returned.

The main source of income of the business is the making and exporting of Christmas wreath frames and it has been the home of the Brooklyn Post Office for over a decade.

Those who have had post office boxes may return their keys for the post office doors to the Wa-Su-Wek facility during office hours.

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