The story
On August 3, 1527, in St. John's, Newfoundland, the first known letter was sent from present day Canada. While in St. John's, John Rut wrote a letter to King Henry VIII about his findings and planned voyage. Mail delivery within Canada first started in 1693 when the Portuguese-born Pedro da Silva was paid to deliver between Quebec City and Montreal. From 1711 to 1851, post offices in British North America were extensions of the British Post Office's Royal Mail.
In April 1851, control of postal services in the Province of Canada was transferred from the Postmaster General of the United Kingdom to the newly formed Postmaster General for the Province of Canada. Postal responsibilities in the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island were also transferred to their local governments that year. The first postage stamp (designed by Sandford Fleming) went into circulation in Canada that same year.
Establishment
It was in 1867 that the newly formed dominion of Canada created the Post Office Department as a federal government department (The Act for the Regulation of the Postal Service) headed by a cabinet minister, the Postmaster General of Canada. The Act took effect on April 1, 1868, providing a uniform postal service throughout the newly established dominion. The Canadian post office was designed around the British service as created by Sir Rowland Hill, who introduced the concept of charging mail by weight and not destination along with creating the concept of the postage stamp. The new service traded under the name The Royal Mail Canada. It joined the Universal Postal Union in 1878.
Several historical sites related to the history of the Post Office Department of Canada can be visited today. In Ontario, the first Toronto Post Office is still in operation. The site of Scotiabank Arena was once the Canada Post Delivery Building. Also notable are the Vancouver Main Post Office and Post Office in Dawson City, Yukon, both of which are designated as Federal Heritage Buildings.
20th century
Prior to rural mail delivery, many Canadians living outside major cities and towns had little communication with the outside world. On October 10, 1908, the first free rural mail delivery service was instituted in Canada. The extension of residential mail delivery services to all rural Canadian residents was a major achievement for the Post Office Department.
The Post Office Department was an early pioneer of airmail delivery, with the first airmail flight taking place on June 24, 1918, carrying mail from Montreal to Toronto. By 1927, airmail service had expanded to Manitoba, and a regular airmail route between Rimouski, Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa had been established. In 1937, the Post Office provided Trans-Canada Airlines with airmail contract. Daily airmail service between Vancouver and Montreal began in 1939.
The Post Office Savings Bank system, an agency created by the April 1868 Post Office Act, was phased out in 1968–69.
Crisis and reform
The 1970s was a difficult decade for the Post Office, with major strikes combined with annual deficits that had hit $600 million by 1981. This state of affairs made politicians want to rethink their strategy for the federal department. It resulted in two years of public debate and input into the future of mail delivery in Canada. The government sought to give the post office more autonomy, to make it more commercially viable and to compete against the new threat of private courier services.
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On October 16, 1981, the Federal Parliament passed the "Canada Post Corporation Act", which transformed Canada Post into a Crown corporation to create the Canada Post Corporation (CPC). The legislation also included a measure legally guaranteeing basic postal service to all Canadians. It stipulates that all Canadians have the right to expect mail delivery, regardless of where they live.
In 1985, Canada Post began phasing in community mailboxes instead of door-to-door delivery in new subdivisions. This was met with legal challenges, requiring an Ontario court to rule that the Canada Post Act does not require door-to-door mail delivery.
By 1989 Canada Post had resolved much of its financial troubles, reporting its first profit since 1957. It continued to operate at a consistent profit from 1995 to 2010.
In 1993, Canada Post purchased a majority stake in Purolator Courier. In 2000, it launched ePost, which allowed customers to receive bills from participating merchants and institutions online for free. ePost was discontinued at the end of 2022.
21st century
Minor disruptions to rural mail service occurred in 2006 and 2007, with 5,000 out of 847,000 mailboxes temporarily cut off due to concerns with postal worker safety.
For 2007, 2008, and 2009, the corporation was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine. In 2008, a strike by Canada Post's administrative worker union—the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)—caused minor issues in customer service.
Attempted restructuring and pushback (2010–2017)
In 2010, Canada Post began a seven-year modernization effort called Postal Transformation, investing in greater motorization and automation. As part of this initiative, the duties of letter carriers were combined with those of mail service couriers. This resulted complaints of undelivered mail, increased overtime, work stress, and injuries from fatigue and working past dark.
In response, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) went on its first strike against Canada Post since 1997. The following week, Canada Post locked out CUPW members and the Harper government soon passed a back-to-work motion with binding arbitration. This resulted in a new agreement in 2012 with major concessions from the union, including a $4 per hour drop in starting wages and the loss of bankable sick days. Although CUPW successfully challenged the back-to-work legislation in court, the new agreement remained in force, since it was agreed to by the membership of CUPW.
Canada Post posted a pretax loss of $253 million in 2011, partly due to the 25-day employee lockout and a $150 million pay equity class action lawsuit. The period from 2012 to 2016 saw a return to financial sustainability for Canada Post, with a net profit of $266 million.
In 2014, Canada Post attempted to phase out door-to-door service in urban centres in favour of community mailboxes, affecting an estimated 32% of Canadian addresses and cutting over 8,000 jobs. The move was widely unpopular, especially for its impacts on seniors and people with disabilities. President and CEO Deepak Chopra became a target of public criticism. In 2015, CUPW filed a federal lawsuit demanding that the roll-out be suspended.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promised to stop the phaseout as part of his 2015 Canadian federal election campaign. Following his victory, Canada Post suspended its phaseout. Chopra announced his resignation in summer 2017, leaving three years ahead of his term's expiry date. The Liberal government announced an official halt in January 2018. Canada Post did not reintroduce door-to-door delivery to areas affected before April 15, 2016.
Financial and labour crises (2018–present)
In October 2018, CUPW launched rotating strikes across Canada to negotiate a new agreement with Canada Post. The strikes lasted until late November, when postal workers were ordered back to work by the Trudeau government. This created a 30-day backlog, causing Canada Post to temporarily suspend Canada-bound mail and post $270 million in losses for 2018.
Canada Post struggled to adapt to the growth of e-commerce parcel delivery throughout the 2010s and 2020s, losing more than $3 billion between 2018 and 2024 and racking up over $1 billion in debts. Between 2006 and 2023, its letter deliveries declined from 5.5 billion to 2 billion annually, while parcel revenue rose from $1.6 billion in 2015 to $3.4 billion in 2023. Conversely, its market share in parcel delivery dropped sharply, from 62% in 2019 to 23% in 2023.
Labour relations and costs were persistent challenges throughout this period. In 2023, Canada Post incurred $4.9 billion in labour costs and employee benefits against $6.9 billion in revenue, with parcel delivery costs of $50 to $60 per hour, exceeding industry averages of $40 to $50. In November 2024, a 32-day strike by CUPW halted operations across Canada.
Canada Post's 2023 annual report indicated it may run out of funds by the end of 2025. Unlike many Crown corporations, Canada Post must sustain itself entirely on its own revenues.
After giving Canada Post CA$1 billion earlier in the year, the Government of Canada announced in September 2025 that Canada Post must reduce costs. The government would allow the Crown corporation to phase out door-to-door service in favour of community mailboxes, impacting roughly four million addresses. It would also allow a reduction in delivery speed of non-urgent mail, allowing the use of surface transport instead of air. The government also rescinded the previous ban on rural post office closures, so as to allow the closure of uneconomic post offices. CUPW immediately went to strike, demanding the Government of Canada reverse its decision. In February 2026, the government gave Canada Post an over $1 billion loan.
From Wikipedia’s article on Canada Post, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5