Canada’s post office was created in 1851, 16 years before Confederation. In 1867, it became one of the first departments to be formed in the new federal government. An agent Crown corporation since 1981, the Canada Post Corporation (“Canada Post” or “CPC”) currently reports to Parliament through the Minister of Public Services and Procurement. It has a single shareholder, the Government of Canada.

The Canada Post Group of Companies, which includes CPC and its subsidiaries –Purolator Holdings Ltd., SCI Group Inc. and Innovapost Inc. – employed nearly 68,000 people in 2019, and of that number, more than 53,000 were full- and part-time employees of CPC. The Group of Companies delivered almost 7.9 billion pieces of mail, parcels and messages in 2019 to 16.5 million addresses across Canada. CPC operates the largest retail network in Canada with almost 6,100 retail post offices.

To learn more about Canada Post and its history, read About Us and Canada Post’s Corporate Plan Summary.