Mail to First Nations accounts for 64% of contraband shipments

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Mail destined for First Nations and northern communities accounts for nearly two-thirds of contraband drug and alcohol shipments.

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Indigenous leaders have pleaded with Parliament to keep marijuana legalized off dry reservations under the Indian Act, according to Blacklock reporter.

“Canada Post is committed to eliminating illegal drugs and other non-postal items from the postal system through disruption activities across the country,” the managers wrote in a brief to the House of Commons Government Operations Committee. municipalities.

The Postal Service said its mail inspectors discovered 3,457 packages last year containing the illegally imported goods.

“Of the 3,457 items detected, 2,200 items were destined for Indigenous and northern communities.”

That’s nearly two-thirds of all contraband — including alcohol, cannabis, opioids, ecstacy, methamphetamine and powdered substances — of which $14.3 million was seized.

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The Canada Post Corporation Act prohibits police from intercepting mail in transit, while Canada Border Services officers cannot inspect mail weighing less than 30 grams.

“With opioid overdose incidents across the country, Canada Post has a greater need to ensure non-postal items are detected and removed,” Canada Post managers said.

“Drug trafficking through the mail is definitely a growing problem,” then-RCMP Superintendent Yves Goupil said during the 2018 Senate Public Safety Committee hearings. “It’s not just cannabis. The fentanyl trade is of great concern to us.

The Indian Act allows First Nations to pass by-laws “prohibiting the sale, barter, supply or manufacture of intoxicants on the reserve”.

Indigenous leaders successfully lobbied to ban the local sale of marijuana despite Parliament legalizing cannabis in 2018, Blacklock reported.