Canada Post strike keeping woman stuck in Ottawa as she waits for U.S. visa

Striking Canada Post employees are seen at a Canada Post mail sorting facility during nation-wide strike action in Ottawa, on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Spencer Colby/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

A Canadian woman who applied for a special visa to accept a job in the U.S. says she's been stuck in Ottawa for two weeks, not knowing when her application will be delivered because Canada Post workers are on strike.

Jocelyn Yu said she applied for a G4 visa two days before 55,000 Canada Post workers walked off the job in a strike that has shut down mail service nationwide.

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Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron, she told guest host Andrew Pinsent that she has no idea where her application is.

"The strike happened on a Friday. Thursday night, I'm checking, I'm anxious, I'm refreshing; it says, 'out for delivery.' Until this day, it's been 14 days, it still says 'out for delivery'. It's ambiguous of a term because you don't know if it's in a truck, in a plant, with a carrier; you don't know."

Yu said the application usually requires three to four business days to process, and with talk of a looming strike, she asked if it was possible to use a different carrier, but never got a response and needed to ship it as soon as possible. She said Canada Post was the only carrier the embassy would accept at the time.

Now, because her application is in limbo, she can't say for sure when she'll actually be able to take up her American job offer.

"It's really highly competitive currently for Canadian talent to land a job in the U.S. and every opportunity should not be taken for granted," she said. "It's been really hard to balance the job offer asking, 'when are you going to come back and work?' and what I'm seeing now on the news. There's a lot of tension."

In a statement to Newstalk 580 CFRA, the embassy said it is now recommending alternate delivery options.

"We’re very aware of the issue and the unfortunate hardship it has caused for some people. We advise applicants in need of visa services during the strike to select alternate delivery options through the appointment website as visas cannot be picked up directly from the U.S. Embassy and Consulates," the statement said.

Yu said she's concerned not only about herself, but also about many other Canadians who find themselves in similar situations.

"On the news I see Canadians in rural communities, near the arctic, Indigenous communities, they rely heavily on Canada Post. They don't have access to, let's say UPS, FedEx, and my heart is with them," she said.

"I don't know clearly how to balance the union workers, Canada Post, the federal government and also other stakeholders, like us, the public, but what I do really wish, and I know many Canadians are in the same boat as me, is that they should have an agreement soon. Let our lives resume."

On Wednesday, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said the special federal mediator has temporarily suspended mediation because Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) remain too far apart on critical issues. MacKinnon later said the federal government does not plan to force a result through binding arbitration.

CUPW says it wants salaries brought in line with inflation, an increase in paid medical days, better benefits, and to prevent the company from using private contractors. Canada Post, meanwhile, said in a statement to CTV News that it must make changes to its "outdated, mail-based delivery model" and evaluated its losses at more than $3 billion since 2018.

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Yu said she is in constant communication with her team in the U.S. but worries about the damage a prolonged strike could cause.

"The job market everywhere is extremely competitive and, unfortunately, if you wait for too long, you lose it. I hope that it doesn't happen to me. I'm in constant communication with my team, but I have no doubt in my mind that some Canadians, today, have already lost their jobs because of what's going on with Canada Post." 

CUPW members are planning to hold a rally outside Canada Post Head Office on Riverside Drive in Ottawa Thursday morning to demand the corporation return to the bargaining table.

--With files from Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca Breaking Digital Assignment Editor