Yellowknife is in the middle of a rash of mailbox thefts

“Nobody has fixed the mailbox. Somebody, I don’t know who, stuck some duct tape on the bottom compartments to hold them down.”

Gemma White found her community mailbox in downtown Yellowknife broken apart on Friday last week. Its many locks had been broken, and pieces of metal from those locks lay everywhere.

With letters and other items flapping in the breeze, White asked Canada Post, then the police, then Canada Post a second time what should be done to secure all the loose mail.

Frustrated at a lack of answers from either agency, White eventually gathered up the mail herself and took it to her local post office.

“If my personal data was left exposed for anybody to take, I’d be absolutely fuming,” White told Cabin Radio.

“Not that they were very willing to take it. I’m not sure they knew what they should do.”

Two days after first reporting the issue, White was still waiting for the mailbox to be fixed.

This is far from the only story of mailbox vandalism and theft in Yellowknife over the past few weeks. Both the police and Canada Post confirmed to Cabin Radio they have seen an increase in reports of similar incidents.

“Based on information gathered, as many as 137 individual mailboxes and parcel slots may have been entered with force,” RCMP said in a Tuesday statement, asking anyone who believes mail has been stolen to contact the Yellowknife detachment – you can call (867) 669-1111 – and report it to Canada Post.

Canada Post said its security and operations teams were aware of various incidents and it would not comment further while police investigate, nor discuss “specific security measures or broader information related to our equipment.”

“The vandalized community mailboxes have either been repaired or will be shortly,” a Canada Post spokesperson told Cabin Radio by email.

Customers whose mailboxes are yet to be repaired can contact Canada Post’s customer service team online or at 1-866-607-6301, the company said.

In the meantime, mail will be available for pick-up from Yellowknife’s main post office at 4902 50 Avenue.