WATCH ABOVE: In the Landmark case, City of Hamilton and Canada Post argue over placement of community mailboxes, while some take a stand to bring back door-to-door delivery. Lama Nicolas reports.
Canada Post is facing a battle in the courtroom versus the city of Hamilton — and in the streets.
Henry Evans-Tenbrinke has been camped out on a Hamilton, Ont., street every day from 6:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. since May 11 to prevent installation of a community mailbox.
READ MORE: Canada Post and Hamilton in court over placement of large community mailboxes
“We’re stopping Canada Post from illegally installing mailboxes,” Evans-Tenbrinke told Global News from his post, with his coffee and reading materials at his side.
“Canada Post is an institution that belongs to Canadians and therefore Canadians have a right to have a say what happens to our services. But that’s not the case at all, and as a matter of fact Canada Post seems to feel that they can just do what they want and ignore existing municipal bylaws.”
He said Canada Post plans to install the boxes in unsafe locations, or where they could pose privacy issues.
“The community is mad. They’re angry. They’re fed up.”
While this might seem like a David and Goliath battle, he said he has a lot of support.
“The community is solidly behind me. In the whole time I’ve been here I’ve only had one person who said they’re in favour of the boxes.”
READ MORE: Are Canada Post community mailboxes lowering property values?
He said he’s willing to take his fight “as far as it needs to go.” He said he believes in peaceful civil disobedience when it’s within legal bounds. He’s already prevented workers from installing a box, which resulted in a call to the cops.
Evans-Tenbrinke said police told him he has every right to be there.
The city of Hamilton has taken Canada Post to court, claiming the proper permits were not obtained from the city in order for community mailboxes to be installed. The city has a bylaw requiring a $200 permit for any such installation on municipal land.
READ MORE: What neighbourhoods Canada Post has stopped home delivery to
The Crown corporation says that the federal Canada Post Act gives Canada Post exclusive jurisdiction over postal services and the authority to install the boxes on municipal property.
Evans-Tenbrinke said he’ll be watching the landmark court case closely. While he hopes Hamilton will be successful, “that’s not the end of it.”
“Our goal is to maintain home, door-to-door delivery because of the impact it’s going to have on senior citizens, on people with disabilities, and they’re not taking that into account at all and they’re not consulting.”
A Canada Post spokesperson recently told Global News the corporation is committed to finding solutions as new situations and complications arise, and that it’s been a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood process to address the unique need of every area.
“We have long standing safety guidelines,” said Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton, “set back from intersections and things like that. We also work with the local municipalities, and we talk to people at the street level to get a sense of what is going on on the street and look at locations and see if there’s a better option and we will look at options that are put forward.”
There have been complaints about the location of the boxes in other communities across Canada.
READ MORE: Canada Post changes 700 super mailbox locations after outrage
Residents in Calgary recently had up to 700 mailboxes relocated following complaints the new spots will cause more congestion and safety concerns if placed in certain areas.
With files from Lama Nicolas
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