Windsor

LaSalle, you've (finally) got mail: Canada Post to allow addresses to use town name

After decades of not being recognized by Canada Post, addresses in the town will soon have a mailing address that say LaSalle instead of Windsor.

Mail service approached town last year about recognizing name

For decades, the Town of LaSalle has not been recognized by Canada Post. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

The Town of LaSalle may have 30,000 residents, but as far as Canada Post is concerned, it doesn't exist.

For decades, the town has been ignored by the the crown corporation — every address is listed as part of Windsor or, in a few cases, Amherstburg.

Ignored, that is, until now.

After years of lobbying, Canada Post reached out to the town late last year, Mayor Ken Antaya told CBC News. 

Antaya said residents and town staff alike were frustrated with having official Windsor mailing addresses. (Town of LaSalle/Facebook)

"This was something that we almost made an annual request for over a 30-year period, and they're finally coming forward with it. The squeaky wheel gets the grease," he said.

Antaya said postal consolidation was to blame for the town's disappearance from the postal map in the first place.

"We did exist at one time ... when we had our local post office in the old Town of LaSalle. When that closed up, that's when it changed," he explained, noting it was sometime in the 1970s or 80s.

"Our voice in the wilderness has ... been heard," Antaya said. (CBC)

The switch happened at the same time postal codes were introduced, the mayor added.

"We kept on making the point [that] if the postal code is so important ... why is [using Windsor instead of Lasalle] so important?" Antaya said. 

"They really could never answer that question."

Antaya believes the change should occur sometime this year.

with files from Peter Duck