Speakers Corner: Man missing grandmother’s ‘box full of memories’ asks CityNews for help

Have you ever had a package that never arrived in the mail? A Toronto man went through a rollercoaster of emotions after he feared a package full of his dead grandmother’s memories sent through Canada Post was lost forever. He reached out to CityNews for help.

David Hutt and his grandmother shared a very special bond.

“My grandmother was a huge part of my life. After my mother died she was like a mother to me, we shared so much while she was alive.” Hutt said.

Sadly, his grandmother passed away in September 2020 at the age of 105. While she was alive, she set up a will. Carefully and meticulously, she went through every possession she had and laid out who it should go to. The executor of her will sent out parcels full of memories to her grandchildren.

All of them received the packages except for Hutt.

“My grandmother at 105 years old took the time to make sure everything was left for her grandchildren, especially for me,” he said.

The package Hutt was supposed to receive was full of memories such as photos of vacations Hutt took with his grandmother, pictures of her life from birth to her last days and journals she kept about her life and experiences.

“Out of all the grandchildren, I was getting the biggest parcel. It’s priceless. I mean, it’s literally family history,” Hutt said.

The package contained personal items so Hutt said it could not be insured. But he was never after money, he just wanted this package and the memories it contained.

Hutt tracked that parcel sent through Canada Post and it said it was delivered on April 14. But Hutt, who had COVID that week and was home, said it never came.

Even more, Hutt lives in a housing development where parcels are only delivered to the secured front lobby, which is monitored by security cameras.

“I asked the building manager to look at the video surveillance of the 14th when they said it was delivered,” Hutt said.

“He scanned it all twice and no parcels or packages were delivered that day.”

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Hutt said he called and emailed Canada Post daily after not getting any answers, he reached out to us.

“My worst nightmare is they delivered it to the wrong place, someone took it, opened it up and saw that to them it’s just junk so they just threw it away,” Hutt said.

CityNews contacted Canada Post and they investigated. Within a few days after our inquiry, they located the package in a warehouse. It turns out there was confusion over the address on the package’s label.

Now reunited with the memories he feared lost, Hutt said he is breathing a sigh of relief.

“I am absolutely grateful to CityNews for taking the time to cover my story. I am in still disbelief that I actually got the parcel, I honestly thought it was lost forever,” he told us through email.

As always, if you have an issue, story or question you’d like us to look into, reach out to us here.