Service Canada holding back 85K passports amid Canada Post mail strike

Canada Post temporarily lays off some employees Canadian Union of Postal Workers negotiator Jim Gallant discusses what the union is calling an intimidation tactic by Canada Post.

Approximately 85,000 new passports are being held back by Service Canada, which stopped mailing them out a week before the nationwide Canada Post strike.

"By holding residential mail several days in advance of a work stoppage, Service Canada has reduced the risk of having any passports held in Canada Post distribution centres," an Employment and Social Development Canada spokesperson told CTVNews.ca. "Those passports will be mailed out once the labour disruption is over and regular mail service resumes."

Employment and Social Development Canada operates Service Canada, which issues Canadian passports.

Anticipating a potential labour disruption, Service Canada stopped mailing passport packages after Nov. 8. A week later on Nov. 15, approximately 55,000 Canada Post workers went on strike after failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer. Mail and parcels will not be accepted, processed or delivered until the strike is over.

The spokesperson said anyone who is in urgent need of a passport should call 1-800-567-6868 or visit a Service Canada location that offers passport pick-up to have their package transferred. Passport applications mailed just prior to the strike may still be with Canada Post, in which case Service Canada will be unable to process them until mail service resumes.

With files from CTVNews.ca's Christl Dabu and Luca Caruso-Moro