Good morning.
On behalf of the Confédération des organismes des personnes handicapées, I want to thank you for welcoming me here today. At the outset, I would like to express my support for the remarks by the two individuals who spoke before me. In the community of persons with limitations, there are of course many seniors and women. I will not repeat what they said because we are entirely in agreement.
I am going to speak to you about a special situation in Quebec. There is some talk about requiring a medical certificate for a person to obtain home delivery service. I do not know whether people are experiencing the same problem in the other provinces, but here in Quebec not everyone has a family physician, and if by chance we have one, it is often difficult to get an appointment, and patients have to pay for the certificate. These are obstacles for the people we represent. Need we remind you of that fact? The community of persons whom we represent does not distinguish itself by its great wealth, quite the contrary.
Furthermore, it appears that Canada Post would be the one to decide, based on the medical certificate submitted to it, whether the person in question is disabled enough to receive mail at home. We are quite surprised to learn that Canada Post has specialized resources to assess persons with disabilities, and, as you will understand, we doubt the value of the assessment that will be conducted. Technically speaking, if I have a physician, have managed to make an appointment, and obtained a medical certificate, Canada Post may still not accept that certificate. We consider this unacceptable.
How do people get to this community mailbox and how can they find their box? This is a major issue for the people we represent. We live in a country that has snow and ice in winter. How can people reach the location of their community mailbox through ice, snow, and inclement weather? When you have to use adapted transportation, it must absolutely be reserved well in advance. In some instances, one must also wait an hour or an hour and a half for the return trip, where adapted transportation service is available. These situations may occur in -30, -40 or -25 degree weather. What can persons with disabilities do to be independent and feel safe when they go to pick up their mail? If they have no assistance on site, how will they find their mailbox? How will blind people find the big mailbox and then their own individual mailbox if there is also a lot of snow or ice on the ground?
I also emphasize how important it is not to put persons with disabilities in situations where they are vulnerable or to make them too dependent on family and friends. We are increasingly urged to seek the assistance of close relatives, family, friends, and neighbours. At some point, it becomes very difficult to remain independent and to protect one's privacy. Mail is personal and we do not necessarily want a neighbour or family member to be aware of the mail we receive. Blind people, to expand on that example, have technological aids with which to read their mail but not to go and pick it up. They must constantly request assistance, and that runs counter to the principle of personal independence.
We are told that Canada Post has financial problems. We wonder why the main recommendation is to cut services. Canada Post could, and even should, find other services to fund itself. The postal organizations of other countries provide other services that contribute to their funding. Why would Canada Post not to the same? In the event Canada Post is unable to find new funding sources, should it not then consider other measures? Is it really essential to deliver the mail five or six times a week, or would it not be possible to plan other measures at locations that do not have the critical mass?
In short, we cannot accept a measure that would require persons living with functional limitations to obtain a medical certificate in order to have their mail delivered at home subject to an evaluation by Canada Post of the certificate thus obtained.
For these reasons, we think Canada Post should maintain its services, adapt them, and find other sources of funding.
Thank you very much.