Sirdar area residents got a surprise when they picked up their mail on April 19. In their boxes was a notice—with no information that Canada Post was the sender—announcing that the post office was closing two days later.
Canada Post then, however, moved even more quickly. On Friday morning (April 20) an employee removed files. By 2 pm the outgoing letterbox and other equipment were gone, according to one resident.
The notice to box holders said temporary keys for a group postal box 6 km south of Sirdar could be picked up by April 21, but the keys were not available before the office was closed.
“I did speak with Canada Post about a week ago, absolutely encouraging them to find a way to keep the Post Office open in Sirdar,” Kootenay-Columbia MP Wayne Stetski said last week. “They were going to have a look and maybe talk to the newly renovated pub’s owner and see whether there was some interest there. I do believe that Canada Post is going to find an alternative in Sirdar.”
In order to remain viable, Stetski said, Canada Post should be expanding services to include postal banking, which is done in numerous countries.
(Stetski informed the Advance just before press time that Canada Post has told him it is restoring the Sirdar Post Office to regular service on Monday. “They are hiring a temporary employee and the owner will keep the building open on an interim basis,” he said, adding that the status quo will continue until the property is sold. “A letter is going out to box holders today,” Stetski said.)