Canada Post issues apology to woman denied mail because of MMIWG dress

It’s a symbol that represents the thousands of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women across Canada, and a local woman is raising awareness about the significance of the red dress after allegedly being told by Canada Post to remove it.

“Yesterday I noticed the mail carrier out front on the sidewalk and I thought ‘oh OK I have some mail’ and what I got was a note,’’’ said Wendy Chambers, who added that the dress has been hanging at her Mission Hill area home since May 5.

The note read: “Object which is hanging, impedes delivery to mail box. Thank-you Canada Post.”

“I was like wow, it’s just hanging there, it’s like a curtain, you just move it aside, you put the mail in the box, the newspaper delivery person never had an issue with it,” she said.

Update

'We are scared': family of homicide victim leaves home

1h ago

Infrastructure Upgrades

New Vernon roundabout put off until 2025, funding could go to another project

2h ago

Overdose Prevention

Free Naloxone training offered monthly at Vernon library

2h ago

Chambers, an Indigenous woman, then took to social media to share her story.

“My intention was not to bash the Canada Post employee, my intention was to raise awareness about the missing and murdered Indigenous women in our country and others,” she said adding many of her friends have dealt with the pain of missing family members.

“My heart goes out to them because they don’t know what happened to their loved ones,” she said.

The post ended up garnering a lot of attention on Facebook, which Chambers said she was well prepared for that to happen.

“I just feel that the ones who were all up in arms over my post and ‘what is the red dress movement anyways?’ Well those are the people that we need to reach. Those are the people that need to be made aware and perhaps receive some education,” Chambers said.

Canada Post has since issued an apology to Chambers.

“This was an unfortunate misunderstanding as the letter carrier was unaware of the significance of the red dress hanging in the doorway. While she had been delivering the mail to this address for weeks, the carrier decided recently to leave a note saying it had been impeding her ability to deliver. This was not the formal process, she did not mean any disrespect and deeply regrets the situation now that she is fully aware of the significance of the red dress,” the statement from Canada Post said.

Canada Post added employees will be educated on the topic to prevent future errors similar to this.

“We respect that the customer, and others, are bringing awareness to the Red Dress Movement and what it means to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement. We are also using this opportunity to inform our employees and ensure we approach these matters with proper sensitivity,” the statement said.

Chambers told Vernon Matters she accepts Canada Post’s apology and a manager is expected to contact her Friday morning.