Acting Pakenham postmistress Jeanne Barr, who heard Friday she would lose her job because she can't speak French, was told Monday she can stay on, pending a review of the situation. (QMI/DOUG HEMPSTEAD)

OTTAWA -- Maybe four’s a charm.

Canada Post has tried to force Pakenham’s acting postmistress out of her job four times, and four times that decision has been reversed.

Jeanne Barr found out Friday Canada Post had apparently reversed its decision of two weeks ago to allow her to stay in her current role even though she doesn’t speak any French — officially required of Crown corporation staff who deal with the public within the national capital region.

By Monday at noon, Canada Post’s vice-president of official languages called her personally to say she can stay.

“They’re going to re-assess the situation is what he told me,” said Barr, who doesn’t believe for a second that her job is safe.

“I think once they’ve reviewed it, I’ll be moved. I think so, yes,” she said.

When asked for an explanation, Canada Post e-mailed the following statement:.

"Respectfully, this is a private internal employment matter and it would be inappropriate to discuss Ms. Barr’s employment options with anyone other than her."

One of the questions still unanswered is: Will the review affect other postal outlets within the capital region?

The Sun has learned staff in Metcalfe, Almonte and Stittsville who deal with the public, commonly as acting postmistresses or postmasters, will have their roles reduced if they don’t speak both official languages.

The acting postmistress in Almonte for the past four years found out her shifts were being reduced to 2.5 hours per week from 40. In addition, she will be relegated to a back-room assignment.

Barb Mulligan, who works at the Almonte Post Office, says she’s been affected as well, but has been asked not to speak about it to the media.

“I’m afraid I might jeopardize my job further,” said Mulligan.

Calls to the Stittsville Post Office were not returned. The answering service message there is in English only.

Meanwhile, in Pakenham, a study is underway to solve the problem once and for all. The hamlet is within the Town of Mississippi Mills. Even though Pakenham is within the National Capital Region, not all of Mississippi Mills is. The councillor for Pakenham, Deny Ferguson, said he’s looking into the idea of moving the Pakenham Post Office a few kilometres away, so that its no longer geographically within the National Capital Region.

“We’ve got pages and pages of legal-ese to go through, but we’ve got a lot of fight in us yet -- we’re from Pakenham,” said Ferguson.

doug.hempstead@sunmedia.ca