Some Canadian mail carriers are refusing to deliver mail with a graphic anti-abortion message (CC/ wikimedia.org/ Raysonho)
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Canada's postal service has ordered mail carriers to deliver graphic anti-abortion material targeting Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau.
Residents of Saskatoon, Sask., have received anti-abortion flyers, distributed by the Canadian Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, which graphically depict evidence of abortion, specifically aborted fetuses, tied to Trudeau's current election campaign. The flyers are now being sent through Canada Post, the national mail carrier, with appropriate postage and in white envelopes with the phrase "Important Election Information Enclosed."
The flyer depicts an aborted fetus and a photograph of Trudeau with the slogan, "A vote for Justin Trudeau is a vote for this." The Liberal Party regards itself as pro-choice.
Some mail carriers have refused to deliver the envelopes.
"There are carriers who are certainly concerned about the violent, graphic material that they are delivering and they are concerned about who in the home is going to be receiving that," said Julie Sanderson, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers' (CUPW) Local 824. "CUPW supports our members who feel they have a legitimate concern that a corporation like Canada Post should work to preserve family values."
She added Canada Post informed her that mail carriers are legally responsible to deliver all mail.
"We are responsible for the physical delivery of all mail in Canada. We do not have the legal right to refuse delivery of a mail item because we or other people object to its content," said Matt Ziebarth, a Canada Post manager, in an e-mail directed to the union. "Anyone who has concerns about the content should either contact the publisher or simply dispose of it."
Four employees of a Saskatoon mail depot refused to distribute the flyers Wednesday, and were ordered by their supervisor to go home; the supervisor later changed his position on the matter.
Sanderson added only one mail depot in Saskatoon, with 30 employees, received the flyers meant for mail delivery, but she expects the rest, affecting 200 employees, to receive them soon.
