Council Confirms Post Office Closure

Post box delivery of mail and small parcels unaffected

(Editor's note: The duplicate postings of the most recent Watershed articles were made in error, as a result of a technical glitch from our server. We are continuing to work on the problem. Apologies to all our readers for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience!)

The biggest bombshell of this week's overlapping Committee of the Whole (COW) and Special meetings was saved for the final ten minutes of the evening, when Mayor Ken Berry announced that the Lions Bay post office will be closing.

"We received an email today that the post office will be closing April 7, 2025, and they will be relinquishing the dealership agency," said Berry. He said Craig Doherty, who owns the store, "reached out to suggest another approach" but that what that entails has not been disclosed.

The mail room is not contained within Lions Bay store, and therefore mail and small package delivery is expected to continue, but large packages have been redirected to Squamish Postal Outlet at 38064 Cleveland Avenue in Squamish, and all postal-related sales and services have been suspended.

In the brief discussion that followed this announcement, Council agreed to follow up with Doherty, and invite him to speak before Council at a future meeting.

"This was seven days' notice," said Councillor Jaime Cunliffe. "You can't leave your job without two weeks' notice. It seems like an inappropriate amount of notification, whether it's allowable or not."

Chief Administrative Officer Ross Blackwell, who said he had gone through a similar situation in another community, noted that the post office outlet is a business relationship between the store owner and Canada Post, and that Council has no influence.

Councillor Michael Broughton, whose family once owned the store said: "without knowledge of the current contract, I don't think we're talking about having mail cut off. I think we're talking the interface at the store counter. The actual placing of mail into boxes is a separate contract." He said the sending and the receipt of parcels is likely the issue, but noted that since it's been seven years since he was involved, he doesn't know the current arrangement.

After the meeting Councillor Neville Abbott said that this was not the first time Council has heard about problems in running the post office. "The decision of the business owners of the store that they will no longer be providing this service seems to have been triggered by residents' concerns after finding out they would need to pick up parcels in Squamish during filming this week. It is unfortunate the filming permit application did not come to Council, which would have afforded the opportunity to identify possible issues and also advise residents in advance of what was planned."

Abbott also confirmed that Doherty said he would meet with Council, and that "Council expressed a desire to assist in whatever way they could to help find a resolution to this issue."

This news followed hard on the heels of a discussion of the current movie shoot in the Village. Council was not informed that a permit had been issued for the film, nor that post office services would be impacted until last Friday's announcement in the Village Update, which came at least a full day after preparations for the shoot were under way.

The Post Office has been a fixture in the Village for more than 40 years. After repeated attempts to confirm details, a spokesperson from Canada Post told The Watershed that the corporate data base has no indication of this change yet registered on their system.

However, in a special Village Update this afternoon, the Village Office said that in communication with Canada Post today, the company indicated "they were informed yesterday of the Store and Café’s desire to no longer perform the Postal Services in their contract." They further indicated that residents will be informed via a "letter in every post box by Friday" to update the community.

The Watershed values your opinion.

Share your thoughts below, or email editor@lionsbaywatershed.ca

Like what you're reading?

For as little as $5/month, you can support local independent journalism

by subscribing to The Watershed HERE.