Proposed power to search, seize mail not being extended to postal workers: minister

OTTAWA — The federal government’s new proposal to allow authorities to search and seize mail would be limited to police officers, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Wednesday.

The proposal was included in the spring economic update tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday. It’s similar but not identical to a plan first proposed in Bill C-2 last year.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Anandasangaree said that bill was carved up into smaller bills and the search and seizure measure was not part of them.

“So the postal matter still remained orphaned and we are quite resolved to move that forward,” Anandasangaree said.

Anandasangaree said while the original bill would have given the power to search and seize mail to government officials, including Canada Post staff, the new version limits the power to police and still requires a warrant.

The minister said the measure is meant to close a legal “loophole” that prevents any package weighing less than 500 grams from being opened and searched.

Anandasangaree said that gap is being exploited by traffickers sending small quantities of drugs, such as fentanyl, through the mail — especially in remote areas.

“So when we look at Nunavut as an example, there’s 25 plus fly-in communities. There’s really no road access. So … smaller quantities of drugs can go through the post office without any scrutiny,” he said.

Kevin Brosseau, Canada’s fentanyl czar, said the use of the mail system to transport drugs has long been a source of concern among police and one he confronted while working in remote areas for the RCMP.

“As it stands, letter mail was something that was completely unsearchable, even with a warrant,” Brosseau said.

“You’re not going to ship a large quantity of alcohol, but you can ship quantities of fentanyl or other opioids in mail that can have devastating impacts. And in my recent conversations … representatives from remote communities in particular were concerned that this legislative gap existed.”

Tamir Israel, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s privacy director, said it’s encouraging that the government is limiting its proposal for letter mail search and seizure to law enforcement only.

“That’s sensible actually, because we’re not really expanding their ability to conduct searches in general. We’re saying that if they have the authorization that they need in other contexts, they’ll be able to get a court order,” Israel said.

Brosseau said to get a warrant for this kind of search and seizure, police would need to bring compelling evidence before a judge.

“So there would be things like either a source would describe it, information coming from a member of the community, surveillance, et cetera, that demonstrates the fact that a particular person is using the mail, shipping quantities of materials and contraband or illegal substances that they shouldn’t be,” he said.

“So it can’t be just a hunch and it cannot be unwarranted where the police go to a mail sorting facility and just randomly start searching through letters.”

Brosseau said the issue of drug traffickers using letter mail isn’t isolated to Canada and it has come up in his conversations with American law enforcement officials.

The proposed mail search power is tucked away near the back of the spring economic statement, with no clear explanation of how it relates to the fiscal document.

Israel said the Canadian Civil Liberties Association will be watching for the relevant legislation to be tabled to get a full look at the proposed powers. He said he takes issue with the measure being tacked on to a broader piece of financial legislation.

“Finance bills have historically got a level of deference from the Senate and from other legislative vehicles,” Israel said.

“We’re putting really substantive things that could potentially have significant civil liberties implications in these finance bills a lot in recent times. So that’s a concern in and of itself.”

Opposition MPs said they don’t understand why it was included in the fiscal update.

“I don’t see so much what relates to that in the exercise of the budget. There are questions which are quite different. It’s in another bill,” Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Tuesday.

NDP Leader Avi Lewis said while it’s “legitimate to introduce non-monetary measures,” it’s “a major legislative moment to bury a significant new power in almost the penultimate page of the document itself.

“It seems like more light should be shone on a measure like that.”

Anandasangaree said the mail search proposal fits with the spring economic statement’s broader theme of community safety.

Bill C-2 has been stalled at second reading in the House of Commons and was last debated on Sept. 17, 2025.

Modifications to Canada’s asylum process originally introduced in Bill C-2 became law earlier this year as part of a separate bill, and new legislation to expand police access to online data and information was introduced in March.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2026.