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Postal Strike

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) moved to rotating strikes effective October 11, 2025. Since Canada Post has resumed mail deliveries, the relief in Coordinated Blanket Order 51-932 is no longer available and relief from delivery requirements in securities legislation is no longer required. See our media advisory for further information and guidance in the event of an escalation in labour action resulting in another complete suspension of postal service in Canada.

Information about delivery the event of a Canada Post service suspension

Our securities rules contain requirements on delivery of documents to the shareholders of public companies and on the filing of documents with the BC Securities Commission (BCSC). The following is our position relating to these requirements in the event of a full suspension of postal service. 

Relief from requirement to deliver financial statements and related disclosure

Under BC Instrument 51-514, a company is exempt from the requirement to deliver financial statements and MD&A to its shareholders during a postal suspension, provided that the company:

  • complies with its filing requirements
  • issues a news release notifying shareholders that the disclosure is available on-line and will be sent to shareholders who request copies
  • sends the documents to shareholders once postal service resumes

For investment funds, BC Instrument 81-517 contains a similar exemption from the requirement to deliver financial statements and management reports of fund performance to securityholders.

Affected companies and investment funds should refer to these instruments and review the conditions carefully to determine if they are eligible for the relief.

There is no change in filing requirements. Public companies and investment funds file these documents through our electronic filing system, SEDAR+, and there is public access to these filings at SEDAR+.

Electronic delivery is a possible alternative to mail delivery. National Policy 11-201 Delivery of Documents by Electronic Means contains guidance on the use of electronic delivery of documents under securities laws.

Delivery requirements for shareholder meetings
On October 9, 2025, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued Coordinated Blanket Order 51-932 Temporary Exemption from requirements in National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations and National Instrument 54-101 Communication with Beneficial Owners of Securities of a Reporting Issuer to send certain proxy-related materials during a postal suspension. CUPW has since moved from a full, nationwide postal strike to rotating strikes. 

The blanket order is meant to provide temporary relief from requirements to deliver proxy-related materials for routine annual shareholder meetings during a complete suspension of all postal service in Canada. Since Canada Post has resumed mail deliveries and is now accepting commercial volumes, the relief in the blanket order is no longer available. [See media advisory here.]

In the event of another full suspension of the postal service due to an escalation in the ongoing labour dispute between Canada Post and CUPW, the BCSC will provide updated information.

Filings with Corporate Finance
The BCSC requires most Corporate Finance filings to be made electronically. A suspension of postal service does not affect those filings required to be made through SEDAR+, eServices, or SEDI.

For Corporate Finance filings that are not required to be made electronically through SEDAR+, eServices, or SEDI, filings may be made to the attention of the Financial Reporting Team by email (finreport@bcsc.bc.ca) or by courier.

Registrant financial filings, client trade confirmations, and client account statements
Registrant financial filings include interim and annual financial statements, Form 31-103F1 - Calculation of Excess Working Capital, subordination agreements and repayment requests, changes to financial institution bonds, and Net Asset Value adjustments. You can send these filings to the attention of the Examination Team by email (examiners@bcsc.bc.ca) or by courier.

The BCSC will not grant extensions or waivers for registrant filings due to poor planning for any postal suspension.

In addition, you must make reasonable efforts to send clients their trade confirmations, account statements, and other reporting in a timely way.

Questions
If you have any questions, please contact our Contact Centre by phone at 604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 (toll free across Canada), or by email at inquiries@bcsc.bc.ca.