We swear, kids, it has nothing to do with whether you were naughty or nice.
Canada Post announced today that Santa will not be writing back to the children who write him letters this year. In a news release, the Crown corporation said that it has begun ramping up operations again after its month-long strike came to an end Tuesday.
“Although Santa won’t have time to respond to letters received through the mail this year, we want to let children know that their letters will make it to him by Christmas Eve. Santa is looking forward to reading all the letters he receives,” Canada Post said in the statement.
For more than 40 years, children around the world have written letters to Santa at the North Pole and received a personalized response through Canada Post’s Santa letter program. Letters to Santa are typically answered by Canada Post volunteers, and delivered by postal workers.
Canada Post employees forced back to work returned to a backlog of roughly two million pieces of mail to clear, a task that will likely continue into the new year.
“Please know that it will take time to stabilize our operations; however, like always, letters to Santa are handled with special care,” Canada Post said.
The strike has created a backlog of a “couple million” parcels during the busy holiday shipping season, according to Canada Post. Employees were ordered back to work on Tuesday, but the company said it will “take some time” to clear the packages and letters that have been trapped for weeks.
Typically, the letter-writing program runs from Nov. 1 to the end of January every year, and Canada Post suggests mailing your letter prior to Dec. 6 to receive a response before the holidays.
In its statement Wednesday, Canada Post said that any letters to Santa mailed by Dec. 23 would “make it to him by Christmas Eve.”
‘Clear violation’
Canada Post workers went on strike Nov. 15 after failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer, exactly one year after talks began. Federal mediation was put on hold Nov. 27 after mediators concluded the sides were too far apart.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ordered Canada Post employees to return to work on Tuesday under their existing contracts, which have been extended until May to allow the bargaining process to resume.
Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University who wrote his PhD thesis on the future of Canada Post, said he believes it will take up to 10 business days for the company to catch up on deliveries once work resumes on Dec. 17 — meaning some mail won’t make it for the holidays.
In a statement Tuesday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) called the move “a clear violation of our Charter rights” and said they will fight it at the CIRB and in the courts.
“Once again, postal workers’ Charter-protected rights to collective bargaining and to strike have been trampled on,” CUPW national president Jan Simpson said in the statement.
“In the face of yet another abuse of government power, postal workers will stand strong and continue to fight to get the good negotiated collective agreements they deserve.”
Canada Post has been handling the letter-writing program since 1982 — the same year Santa Claus got his own dedicated postal code at the North Pole (HOH OHO), according to the Canadian Press.