Emergency services are analyzing white powder found in a package Friday morning at the Canada Post office in North Bay.
North Bay Fire Chief Jason Whitely says the fire department got the call about 7:45am and responded with its Haz/Mat team.
The main floor of the building was evacuated and employees stood across the street on Worthington.
The Haz/Mat team entered the building at about 9:30am after ensuring their Haz/Mat suits were on securely.
Whiteley says the department has no idea at this time what it’s dealing with.
“It could be inert,” he told local media outside the Canada Post building.
“It could just be talcum powder for all we know. We don’t know what we’re dealing with right now. We’re dealing with it as best we can and taking all the necessary precautions.”
Whiteley says he doesn’t know how much powder the package contained but knows it wasn’t very large.
However, he cautions that a package doesn’t have to hold much if what’s inside is deadly chemicals.
The suspicious package was found in the processing centre of the Canada Post building by an employee.
It’s not known at this time if anyone who came into contact with the package was sent to hospital.
Whiteley says emergency services are using a special identification machine the city bought for these type of situations to help identify the powder.
Following the incident, a public notice was put on the customer entrance to the Canada Post building on Ferguson telling the public the post office is temporarily closed.
