Indigenous Peoples' Views on Canada Post Services
Executive Summary
Prepared for Public Services and Procurement Canada
Supplier
Name: Environics Research
Contract Number: EP363-222453/001/CY
Contract Value: $113,005.06 (including
HST)
Award Date: 2022-03-09
Delivery Date: 2022-06-08
Registration
Number: POR 134-21
For more information on this report: TPSGC.PORCoordComm-ROPCoordComm.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
Ce rapport est aussi disponible en Français
Indigenous
Peoples' Views on Canada Post Services –
Executive Summary
Prepared for Public Services
and Procurement Canada by Environics Research
June 2022
This public opinion research report presents the results of
a quantitative research study conducted by Environics Research on behalf of Public
Services and Procurement Canada, comprising a telephone survey
with 425 Indigenous Peoples across Canada aged 18 living both on- and off-
reserve, conducted from April 12 – May
8, 2022.
Permission to reproduce
This publication may be
reproduced for non-commercial purposes only. Prior written permission must be
obtained from Public Services and Procurement Canada. For more information on
this report, please contact Public Services and Procurement Canada at: TPSGC.PORCoordComm-ROPCoordComm.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
© His Majesty the King in
Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Public Services and
Procurement Canada, 2022
Cat. No. P4-108/2-2022E-PDF
ISBN 978-0-660-44717-9
Cette publication est aussi
disponible en français sous le titre Opinions des Autochtones sur les
services de Postes Canada - Rapport final
Cat. No. P4-108/2-2022F-PDF
ISBN 978-0-660-44718-6
A.
Background
and objectives
The Canadian Postal Service Charter describes the Government
of Canada’s expectations regarding Canada Post’s service standards and related
activities in providing postal services that ensure these remain universal,
affordable, reliable, convenient, secure and responsive to the needs of
consumers in Canada.
The Government has committed to review the Canadian Postal
Service Charter (established in 2009) every five (5) years to assess the need
to adapt the Charter to changing requirements.
COVID-19 has dramatically changed how Canadians use postal
services. Given this shift, research was needed to help the Government of
Canada better understand Indigenous peoples’ views regarding how Canada Post
serves them today and how they wish to be served into the future to ensure that
Canada Post services, and in particular the Service Charter, continue to meet
the needs of Canadians. In
2018, the government affirmed that Canada Post is expected to continue to meet
the expectations laid out in the Charter.
Public opinion research was
designed to measure the current views of Indigenous peoples about the mail and
their current expectations of Canada Post, especially in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and Canada Post’s ongoing financial losses, to ensure the
evolution of this important public institution reflects their understanding of
“quality service that Canadians can afford.”
B.
Methodology
Environics conducted a
telephone survey with a random sample of 425 Indigenous people from April 12
and May 8, 2022. The sample was stratified to include 50% interviews on-reserve
and 50% off-reserve. This stratification is important because Canada Post mail
delivery varies on First Nations reserves: mail is delivered to a central
location (e.g., Band Office or community centre), but Canada Post is not
responsible for mail delivery to individual households on-reserve.
The data were weighted at the analysis stage to ensure the
final sample is representative of the current Indigenous population by
province, location (urban, rural, on-reserve), and Indigenous
identity. The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 4.9
percentage points, at the 95% confidence level.
C.
Key
findings
The
survey reveals the great diversity in how Indigenous people receive their mail:
postal boxes at post offices are much more prominent (skewing to rural areas
and reserves) than door-to-door delivery (skewing to urban areas). Of Canada
Post’s services, there is clearly an important role played by parcel delivery/pick-up,
particularly for Indigenous people living outside of cities. These two issues
clearly factor into how Indigenous people evaluate current services and react
to potential alternatives.
Overall,
Canada Post is viewed as an essential service and there is good satisfaction
with its services, although satisfaction is lower among those who do not
receive door-to-door delivery. In this context, the stated preference
(regardless of how mail is received) is for the status quo (maintaining
services) over reduced services, even if it requires the introduction of
federal government funding. Moreover, rural and reserve residents favour
extended services, such as the
ability to access other government services, financial services or other businesses, where they get their mail. In addition, a
significant majority agreed that all Canadians should shoulder the same parcel
cost regardless of distance (72%).
In
terms of specific measures to address Canada Post’s revenue shortfall, support
is highest for ending door-to-door delivery (especially among the majority of
Indigenous people who do not have this service) and lowest for reducing the
number of post offices (reflecting current reliance on post offices for parcel
pick-up). The results suggest some flexibility around franchising, alternate
day delivery and postage rates, but likely requires the case for increased
prices to be clearly made, since there is limited belief that current postal services
are underpriced for their value.
Experience with Canada Post services
· The 2016 Census revealed that
over half (55%) of Indigenous people in Canada live in urban areas, with just
under half in rural areas (25%) or on First Nations reserves (20%). The way Indigenous
people receive their mail is related to their location of residence. Overall,
Indigenous people are most likely to receive mail by postal box at a post
office or retail outlet (46%); this segment is more likely than average to live
in a rural area or on a First Nations reserve. The small proportion who receive
mail to their door (14%) skews to mainly urban or suburban areas.
· Reported
use of Canada Post’s services emphasizes the role of parcel delivery for
Indigenous communities. When it comes to sending mail, personal correspondence
(22% send monthly) exceeds bill payments (17%) and parcels (14%). Yet all three
are surpassed by the one-third of Indigenous people who pick up parcels at the
post office at least monthly. Parcel pickup is particularly widespread outside
of cities (41% vs. 17% in cities), which reflects greater propensity for
door-to-door parcel delivery in cities, but also the importance of parcel
delivery in accessing goods not available on reserves, in rural areas, and
smaller population centres. Such reliance on parcels likely also contributes to
the finding that parcel shipping costs are a significant challenge for close to
one in five (18%) rural and reserve residents.
· Further
evidence for growing emphasis on parcel delivery is that, among Indigenous
people who say COVID-19 changed the way they use Canada Post services (34%),
the most widely reported change is an increase in online parcel ordering.
Satisfaction with and perceived value of Canada Post
· Indigenous
people place considerable value on Canada Post, with more than seven in ten
strongly agreeing it is an essential service for Canadians in general (77%) as
well as for them personally (73%).
· Indigenous
people also express an overall high level of satisfaction with Canada Post
services (88% satisfied, including 54% very satisfied). They are most satisfied
with where they get their mail (86%; 57% very satisfied) and slightly less
satisfied with parcel delivery (80%; 43% very satisfied). Location matters, as satisfaction
with both aspects is higher among Indigenous people who receive door-to-door
delivery, and lower among those who get their mail by postal box or centralized
mailbox.
· Despite
the perceived importance of and satisfaction with Canada Post, there is limited
perception that domestic postage costs less than its worth for the service
provided. Indigenous people are more likely to agree (57%) than disagree (43%)
that domestic stamps are underpriced for their value, but few (14%) strongly
agree.
Addressing Canada Post’s revenue shortfall
· There
is widespread preference to address Canada Post’s revenue shortfall[1] through
federal government funding to maintain current service levels and prices (82%)
rather than reducing services to fit Canada Post’s budget (13%) – even though
the latter reflects the organization’s current mandate. This preference is
remarkably consistent across the population.
· In
terms of specific measures to reduce Canada Post’s losses, ending door-to-door
delivery and moving to community mailboxes ranks at the top of the list. Seven
in ten support (71% overall, 50% strongly) this measure. And while strong
support ranges from 66 percent in rural areas to 39 percent in cities (and 34%
among those who currently receive home delivery), no other option garners
substantially greater support among city-dwellers. For instance, support for
ending daily mail delivery (i.e., switching the frequency of delivery to fewer
than five days a week) ranks the same or slightly lower in support (65%
overall, 38% strongly), across all areas of residence.
· There
is majority opposition to addressing Canada Post’s losses by reducing the
number of post offices (64% oppose vs. 30% support), which likely reflects the
extensive use of parcel pick up described earlier. The results suggest openness
to alternate service delivery models such as replacing corporate-owned post
offices with franchises in grocery stores and pharmacies (64% support, 30%
strongly) and automated parcel lockers (57% support, 32% strongly) – the latter
receiving particularly strong support from rural residents.
· Indigenous
people are open to pricing changes to address Canada Post’s losses. There is
majority support for increasing basic stamp prices by 25-cents (65% support,
31% strongly). There is also indication of willingness to consider paying differing
letter mail rates by distance: majorities say it is reasonable to pay $1.25 to
send a letter within their province (54%) and $1.50 across the country (64%),
compared to one-quarter willing to pay beyond $1.00 to send mail within their
city/town.
· In
contrast, respondents were asked about moving to a standardized cost for parcel
delivery: a majority of Indigenous people agree all Canadians should shoulder
the same parcel cost regardless of distance (72% agree, 44% strongly). Notably,
this option is more appealing to those outside of cities (48% strongly agree,
vs. 37% of city-dwellers), likely reflecting the challenge parcel cost presents
for rural and reserve residents (described in an earlier paragraph). The
difference may also reflect concerns among urban residents about subsidizing parcel
costs for non-urban residents.
Services in rural areas
· Indigenous
people are generally in favour of efforts to maintain postal services to rural
communities, regardless of where they themselves live. There is majority
support for the federal government to subsidize more costly and unprofitable
postal services in rural and remote communities (73% support, 43% strongly).
Majorities also agree with maintaining the rural moratorium with certain
adjustments, either with updated definition of rural (84%) or a modified
moratorium where rural post offices are replaced with franchises (62%); over
half disagree with ending the moratorium outright.
· There
is broad interest among rural and reserve residents for expanded services in
rural areas. Support is highest for offering other government services at post
offices (85%) and creating shared-service hubs (80%), followed by providing
access to financial services at post offices (71%).
·
In terms of actual use of additional
services, small segments of Indigenous people indicate they would certainly use
government services like those offered at Service Canada outlet (17%) or become
a client of Canada Post banking services (5%), although this latter is of
greater interest on-reserve (10%). While these overall numbers are limited,
they are nonetheless important to consider given the demonstrated challenges
Indigenous people have trying to access government and financial services.
D.
Cost
of research
The
contract value was $113,005.06 (including HST)
E.
Political
neutrality statement and contact information
I hereby certify as senior
officer of Environics that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of
Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy
of the Government of Canada, and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public
Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on
electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the
electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leaders.
Sarah Roberton
Vice President, Corporate and Public
Affairs
Environics Research Group
sarah.roberton@environics.ca
Supplier name:
Environics Research Group
PWGSC contract number: EP363-222453/001/CY
Original contract date: 2022-03-09
For more information on this report, please contact Public
Services and Procurement Canada at: TPSGC.PORCoordComm-ROPCoordComm.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca