Quilts for Survivors unable to ship quilts due to postal strike
Kate Rutherford | CBC News | Posted: November 28, 2024 11:00 AM | Last Updated: November 28
Volunteers for the Timmins-based non-profit sew quilts to comfort Indigenous survivors of trauma
The quilts are piling up at the Quilts for Survivors studio in Timmins, Ont., and the waiting list grows longer for those who have asked for one.
The postal strike is preventing the non-profit from shipping the quilts to people across Canada.
The founder and CEO of Quilts for Survivors, Vanessa Génier, said prior to the labour disruption, they had sent out almost 6,300 quilts to survivors of residential school abuse and other trauma since 2021.
Volunteers in Timmins and across Canada sew the quilts.
She said volunteers get involved for various reasons, but some have confided it's a way to give back.
"They want to do something to help bring healing and comfort and to apologize for the mistakes that Canada has made with Indigenous people," said Génier. "And this is one way to get involved with reconciliation that is something tangible and that goes directly to survivors."
Génier said quilts are traditionally given as gifts and offer comfort and healing.
She said they're still sewing away so that when the postal strike is over, they can make a dent in the list of 1,500 people who are waiting for their quilts.
The studio manager, Kat Jeremiah-Génier, said it's a little discouraging to see quilts piling up but they say they're turning it into a challenge.
"We're also really excited to see how big of a stack that we can make of finished quilts at the studio so that when we are able to ship them out, that we can get them out really fast," said Jeremiah-Génier
Canada Post is the only way to ship a parcel to fly-in communities or remote and rural areas with P.O. boxes, so the two expect to blanket the local postal office when they can ship again.
Couriers not practical for shipping to rural areas, First Nations
In the meantime, Vanessa Génier said she was able to hand-deliver some quilts to survivors in the Toronto area.
While the presenting of the quilts sparks heightened emotions in the survivors, she said it is moving to be able to meet them when they get their gift.
"It is really nice to be able to talk with them, and hear their story and give them that hug that they need for that inner child that never had a childhood and to see them just hug their quilts, and just love them," she said.
It's been about two weeks since more than 55,000 postal workers across the country walked off the job.
They have been at the negotiating table since; but today is the first day they are not.
The labour minister said it was the federal mediator's decision to suspend talks.