Birch Island is losing more of its identity, some residents fear.
Recent address changes by Canada Post mean more confusion about where Clearwater ends and Birch Island begins, according to Linda Moss.
“It used to be my street address was on McCracken Road in Birch Island and my postal address was a box number, rural route one, Clearwater. Now my postal address is on McCracken Road, Clearwater ... except there is no McCracken Road in Clearwater,” she said.
“It very much upsets me and I refuse to use Clearwater in my mailing address.”
Birch Island residents have used Clearwater mailbox numbers since the community’s post office was closed in 1986.
Chuck Dee, another longtime resident, is also unhappy about the situation.
“I have never been asked to be part of Clearwater or want to be part of it,” he said. “I’m sure that if you canvassed Birch Island, 99 per cent would say they favor being Birch Island.”
Dee pointed out that the community used to have its own postal code: V0E 1G0.
He suggested that the boundaries for the old postal code be used to define the boundaries of Birch Island for Canada Post.
According to longtime Blackpool resident Keith Hanna, the question of postal addresses has not been an issue in that community for as long as he has lived there (since the 1970s). He speculated this might be because Blackpool lost its post office long before Birch Island.
According to the local history book, Upper North Thompson Reflections, Birch Island had a post office from 1917 to 1987. Blackpool’s post office opened in 1910 and closed in 1962. Postal service in Clearwater began at Raft River in 1910 and has continued ever since.
A spokesperson for Canada Post could not be reached for comment before press-time late last week.