SUNDRE — Citing “staffing issues,” Canada Post recently announced the temporary closure of the James River General Store post office.
“Mail will continue to be delivered to community mailboxes. Any items that are carded for pick-up and signature items can be collected at the Sundre Post Office,” Valérie Chartrand, a Canada Post spokesperson, wrote by email in response to a media inquiry.
Questions about roughly how many residents stand to be affected by the temporary closure and whether there might be a plan moving forward including a possible timeline regarding when people might expect the service at James River General Store to resume, went unanswered.
Kim Galloway, who owns the store that is also run out of the family home and has since March 2018 served as postmaster, for her part said Canada Post’s statement regarding staffing issues “is misleading.”
“It’s not Canada Post’s staffing issue, it’s Canada Post’s mandated vaccination practice that is causing the staffing issue. It’s not me not being able to work — I’m fully capable of working,” Galloway told The Albertan yesterday morning during a phone interview.
In a social media post shared publicly after the temporary closure was announced on Friday, Nov. 26, Galloway said the mail service was for the time being removed “due to my personal decision to not be vaccinated.”
The decision was made by Canada Post, she said.
“And as an employee of that corporation, I am no longer eligible to actively provide services,” she wrote. “This is due to a mandatory vaccination practice that was put in place, and I am not following this practice, putting me on an unpaid leave as your postmaster.”
Elaborating during the interview, she said there is no comparing her home-based operation, which only has one non-family employee on the payroll, with a bigger corporate sorting centre boasting a large staff.
“The difference between me and a corporate Canada Post office, is I literally sort my mail for my 92 boxes at the front door to the stairs to my kitchen in my home — I live here,” she said candidly.
“I’m only lucky enough to not be feeling like I’m forced into a vaccination. But if that were my full-time job, I probably would have had to have done it, and it would have been against me. I wouldn’t have been comfortable with myself doing it, and there’s other people in that situation.”
Proceeding to extend her apologies to those affected, Galloway posted that her intention was never to inconvenience the community, as she herself is also inconvenienced.
“I made a choice — only on principle. This choice was personal — not political until this situation,” she said.
Further detailing her position, Galloway stated in her post that her family is not anti-vaccination.
“I’ve always said yes to vaccinations for my kids. Measles, mumps — all the shots that all the kids get,” she said during the interview.
“I’ve never said no to measles or any of those vaccination shots,” she said, calling them, “tried, true and tested. But they actually stop viruses and diseases.”
She also left open the possibility of eventually getting immunized for COVID-19.
“When I am ready, I will take a COVID vaccination — but just not yet,” she said. “I’m just hesitant on this one — I’ve never said no, and I don’t think my employer should have a say in my personal choice. Because it should be a choice.”
Moving ahead, Galloway said she is under the impression Canada Post has no go-forward plan or timeline for re-opening the James River General Store post office.
“They’ve left all of their equipment here, they’re no longer paying my rent for the little space,” she said, adding Canada Post provides a “tiny bit of money” on a monthly basis to store its equipment in the home-based store and post office.
“I had two questions from my immediate supervisor when I called two weeks before this happened saying, ‘What’s our plan?’” she said. “That person asked me, ‘Are you resigning or are you going to be on leave?’ I said I’m not resigning, and you’re putting me on leave. It’s very corporate minded.”
There was very little advanced notice about Canada Post’s decision to temporarily shutter the post office, she said.
“They didn’t tell me a plan until an hour before they showed up to remove the mail.”
Chartrand expressed gratitude for people’s patience and understanding, adding that customers with questions about mail delivery can also contact Canada Post's Customer Service team at 1-866-607-6301.
