How will the Canada Post strike affect a beloved Canadian tradition letters to Santa?

Every Christmas season, like magic, it happens.

Children around the world write letters to Santa at the North Pole and receive a personalized response in return. Except it's not magic it's Canada Post's Santa letter program, where "postal elves" have been sorting through more than a million letters to Santa each year for 40-some-oddyears.

Now thatCanada Post workers are on strike,teachers and parents of littles who still believe in holidaymagic might be wondering: will this affect a beloved Canadian tradition?

CBC News has reached out to Canada Post and The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) for answers.

So far, only Canada Post has responded, saying only that the strike has "impacted Canadians, small businesses as well as our ability to get mail to and from Santa in the North Pole."

"It is our hope that postal operations can resume as soon as possible at this critical time for customers,"Canada Post said in an email statement.

Letters to Santa are typically answered by Canada Post volunteers, and delivered by postal workers.

On its website, Canada Post notesthe letter-writing program runs from Nov. 1 to the end of January every year, and to mail your letter before Dec. 6 to receive a response before the holidays. A strike notification banner across the top of every page on the website warnscustomers to expect delays.

WATCH |Canada Post employees on strike:

Canada Post workers on strike, mail and parcels won't be delivered

3 days ago

Duration 2:51

55,000 Canada Post workers are on strike, a move that will force businesses and consumers to seek shipping alternatives ahead of a busy holiday season.

Workers on strike

Canada Post workers went on strike early Friday after failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer, exactly one year after talks began.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says approximately 55,000 workers in its urban, rural and suburban mail carrier (RSMC) bargaining units are striking, claiming little progress has been made in the bargainingprocess.

"Canada Post had the opportunity to prevent this strike, but it has refused to negotiate real solutions to the issues postal workers face every day," the union said in a statement.

Canada Post said in a statement early Fridaythat its operations will shut down, affecting millions of Canadians and businesses.Mail and parcels, the Crown corporation said,will not be processed or delivered during the strike, and some post offices will be closed. Service guarantees will be affected for items already in the postal network and no new items will be accepted.

The strike action comes ahead of Black Friday andthe beginning of the holiday season, when Canadians rely on the postal service to send and receive gifts, packages and cards.

And lettersto Santa, which Canada post has been handling since 1982 the same yearSanta Claus got his own dedicated postal code at the North Pole (HOH OHO),according to the Canadian Press.

"A growing number of post office employees and pensioners ... have volunteered to act as Santa's helpers," Canada Post president Michael Warren told the wire service that year.

WATCH | From the archives: Who answers letters to Santa?

Post office volunteers answer letters to Santa

39 years ago

Duration 1:31

In 1985, CBC's The Journal finds out how Canada Post deals with the volume of mail for Santa Claus.

How previous strikeaffectedletters

This isn't the firsttime a strike by Canada Post workers affectedservices.

In late November 2018, amidrotating strikes, Canada Post told mediathey would continue to process Santa's letters.The union told Global Newspeople should expect delays if the strike continued as is.

But it didn't continue much longer. After a month of rotatingstrikes, the federal government ordered postal workers back to work.The legislation ordering the end of the strike, Bill C-89, was passedinto law in the House of Commons on Nov. 24, 2018, and went into effect on Nov. 27, 2018.

That year's rotating strikes, which alternatedbetween different regions on different days, differsfrom the current national strike affecting employees nationwide and shutting down operations.

AsJon Hamilton, a spokesperson for Canada Post,told CBCRadio's Metro Morning: "Our hope was to continue operating if they went through rotating strikes, but this is obviously very disappointing, especially at the busy holiday season."

"No one here wants to be here for the holidays. We're all looking forward to the holidays. The Grinch seems to have stolen Christmas for us and for the holidays,"Mark Lubinski, CUPW president for Local Toronto, told CBCon Friday.

"We want to be able to work, but we want a fair contract atdecentwages."