OTTAWA - Canada Post has asked cannabis producers to stop shipping marijuana to a small island in Eastern Canada, in order to curb a sharp increase in the number of mail trucks being stopped and searched by U.S. border officials.
Campobello Island, located off the southwestern tip of New Brunswick, is accessible year-round only by a bridge from the American state of Maine, so all mail to the community must pass briefly through the United States.
Over the last year, residents have been experiencing a rise in the number of their letters and packages being searched and seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities, which they are legally entitled to do.
That's why Canada Post sent a letter to licensed cannabis producers last October, asking them to end shipments of cannabis to Campobello Island, according to a briefing note prepared for Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand.
But the searches have continued.
Campobello Island Mayor Brett Newman says residents are frustrated and they want Ottawa to do more to make the searches stop.