Vancouver councillor motions to bring back Chinatown post office

The fight for a critical community resource in Vancouver’s Chinatown continues.

City Coun. Pete Fry introduced a motion on Wednesday to pressure Canada Post to reopen a specific office.

Fry says the closure has been hard on residents — especially seniors.

“Residents of Chinatown in the Downtown Eastside, older people, people with disabilities, people who might not have the means to travel several kilometres to pick up their mail,” he explained.

Canada Post shut down the Main Street post office in November as part of reported cost-saving measures.

“This was a business decision from Canada Post. They’re obviously going through some new modelling of business decisions. So, I mean, it’s too late for that particular location and franchisee, but there’s a lot of opportunity within Chinatown,” Fry argued.

His motion asks Mayor Ken Sim to write to federal officials and offer up city-owned space, if Canada Post wants to set up shop again.

“We have properties in Chinatown that are owned by the City of Vancouver that we’re actively looking to redevelop,” said Fry.

He explains that his motivation is simple.

“Obviously, a lot of seniors don’t necessarily use electronic banking, and they don’t have access to the Internet, and they rely on mail. And I think there’s also a culturally appropriate lens to apply here too, where many of the seniors don’t necessarily speak English as their first language, may have some language barriers,” said Fry.

“It’s nice to have that kind of facility available.”

The Vancouver City Council will debate the motion on Wednesday.