Thank you.
First of all, I'd like to thank the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss Canada Post.
The NWT Association of Communities represents all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories—a fact we're very proud of—from our very smallest of Kakisa, with only 52 people, and up to Yellowknife, which is almost pushing 22,000, which is pretty amazing. We advocate on behalf of the communities. We deliver programs and share information and provide numerous member services.
Canada Post has historically been and will continue to be an important part of our community life in the Northwest Territories. The remote and isolated nature of our communities means that Canada Post is an important lifeline to the rest of Canada and the world. Although the last delivery of mail by RCMP dog patrol was only in 1969—pretty phenomenal, actually—much has changed since then, but not our reliance on Canada Post.
There has been considerable local press about long delivery times, lack of delivery and missing parcels; and the challenges of getting parcels delivered at Christmas is a matter of local lore here. Given its isolation, though, the NWT cannot afford to see the level of service provided by Canada Post eroded.
With respect to protecting post offices, unlike other jurisdictions in Canada, very few, if any, NWT residents have ever enjoyed home delivery. Many of our homes do not even have street addresses so that would be a formidable task at the best of times. We read with interest the potential of making post offices into community hubs. I'd like to echo what the mayor said, that in the NWT they already are. It's an important part of your day, at the end of the work day, running into people at the post office as you go to pick up your mail. Many post offices already house community-owned notice boards, those sorts of things, because it is such a hub.
With respect to parcel post, as the mayor also mentioned, we have very limited shopping in our communities. Even Yellowknife has only two locations you can shop in if you're shopping for kids. That's it; you're out of luck. You have to fly to Edmonton or drive for a couple of days. It's very important to northerners to be able to avail themselves of e-commerce. Many of our communities don't even have an option of being on the road and driving. So you're talking about flights, no matter what.
We've also had to present to CRTC about the challenges that our communities have experienced with respect to the Internet. Despite numerous limitations with speed and band width, e-commerce and the consequential delivery of parcels by Canada Post is an important component of life in the NWT, and it is only likely to increase.
With respect to banking, regardless of whether the decision is made to expand postal services to include postal banking, the postal service continues to play an important role in banking in the NWT. As the mayor mentioned, many communities do not have any bricks-and-mortar banks and they are already doing a lot of work that way.
One of the things to also note with respect to consultation.... We noticed in your report, to date, that many of the other associations were saying that it's absolutely critical to consult with the communities about the delivery of postal services in their community. They are the experts. We're happy to help facilitate that, if and when that happens. That does need to happen for sure.
Finally, in conclusion, I'd like to direct you to a Maclean's magazine article just this summer about Google trends around this year's potential labour dispute with Canada Post. The article very clearly pointed out that the NWT, Yukon, and Nunavut had double the number of inquiries on Google about the strike and what the implications were going to be, than the rest of Canada. It just demonstrates how important Canada Post is to our residents.
Thank you again for the opportunity to make this presentation, and for your interest in the NWT and the impact that Canada Post has on our lives.