Mail delivery resumes in Victoria neighbourhood after concerns raised about off-leash dogs

Dogs and their owners in Victoria's Pemberton Park on Oct. 20, 2021. (CTV News)

Vancouver -

Canada Post says it has resumed mail delivery in a Victoria neighbourhood where it had been suspended for more than a month.

The federal postal service stopped delivering mail to homes on Gonzales Avenue in Victoria's Fairfield neighbourhood in early September due to concerns about the safety of workers interacting with unleashed dogs in the area.

While delivery was suspended, residents were initially required to travel almost six kilometres to the Canada Post sorting facility on Glanford Avenue in Saanich to get their mail. Later, they were able to pick it up at a post office on Fort Street.

Residents blamed the lack of a fence on the Gonzales Avenue side of Pemberton Park, where there is an off-leash area for dogs. 

In confirming Friday that mail delivery had resumed, Canada Post did not say what changes, if any, had been made in the neighbourhood.

"Our local safety and operations teams have worked with the city representatives and animal control to ensure the safety of our employees as they deliver mail," a spokesperson for Canada Post said in an email to CTV News Vancouver Island.

The spokesperson thanked residents for their patience and understanding during the delivery suspension.

"Many of our employees are dog lovers and dog owners, but they can still experience threatening dogs, bites and other injuries that can be quite serious," the spokesperson said. "The reality is that it's impossible to know how any dog will react - protective, playful or otherwise - when our employees are delivering the mail."

More than 900 incidents between dogs and mail carriers were recorded across Canada in 2020, according to Canada Post.

The postal service asks dog owners to keep their pets "secure, in control and at a safe distance" while workers are delivering their mail.