Canada Post addressing change

Addresses in North Cowichan that previously were listed as Duncan are being changed to North Cowichan, effective March 17, 2025. The project is in collaboration with Canada Post.

This long-standing problem has resulted in confusion for residents and businesses who are not clear which municipality they live in. The change will reduce or even eliminate problems associated with service requests, voting in local elections, public engagement on municipal issues, and business licensing. The change will also clarify municipal or Council support through funding or partnerships with local organizations and projects.

The change will only affect addresses that are in North Cowichan and are currently using Duncan as their mailing address. North Cowichan addresses currently using Crofton or Chemainus are not affected and will continue to use those community names in their mailing address.

This initiative stems from North Cowichan’s 150^th anniversary celebrations in 2023. North Cowichan has a long history of attempting to change the mailing address for North Cowichan properties, however until recently Canada Post had not granted approval to the requests.

Quick facts:

• Canada Post will notify affected addresses regarding details.
• Those receiving mail with “Duncan” as the city, will still be successfully delivered, as Duncan will be listed as a secondary city in the Canada Post database. 
• North Cowichan has taken this opportunity to standardize a small number of addressing anomalies that are currently in its land databases. 
• The addressing change will extend to other places a postal address is used through database sharing. This includes parcel and online delivery services (such as Amazon and FedEx), digital mapping such as Google, and 9-1-1 call services. 

News: Mailing address update (February 11, 2025)