Due to a strike, mail delivery to Canada was suspended, and Canada Post reports that as of December 17, 2024, while mail service has resumed, there will be delivery delays into January 2025, affecting bankruptcy notice delivery. Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC) notice delivery attempts to Canada have been held at the Canadian/United States border since November 15, 2024, stored in secure containers and are being processed now for delivery and the BNC contractor has begun gathering information on affected notices. As of December 10, 2024, the BNC contractor has begun to bypass notices containing the word “Canada” in the last line of the address (between November 15 and December 9, 2024, these notices were not bypassed). Bypassed addresses are indicated as such on the BNC Certificate of Notice; as part of the bypass process, the BNC notifies the debtor’s attorney of bypassed mail as undeliverable and the BNC notifies the court for adversary proceedings and if the debtor is pro se. Canada recipients have not received court-issued notices since November 15, 2024, and will not, until the strike is over (currently, BNC electronic bankruptcy noticing for international recipients is not an option, thus courts should not assume that a Canadian recipient has received electronic notice). The BNC will post updates to the Bankruptcy Noticing Center website about notice to Canada, and please contact the Bankruptcy Noticing Program for additional information or questions.
Friday, December 20, 2024