Unprecedented demand for Canadian passports has led to delays in processing times, putting eager travelers in limbo ahead of the summer travel season.
According to the federal government, a fraction of the passports that are normally filed in a year were filed over two years of COVID-19, so during the pandemic, passport staff were given other work. Now, Service Canada is trying to shift that workload elsewhere, hire more staff and open more access points, but has no idea when the backlogs will be resolved.
As many Canadians look to travel abroad, some passport seekers say they’ve been forced to camp outside service centers or reschedule trips because of the bureaucratic bottleneck.
This is the lineup for passports at my local @ServiceCanada_E in Montreal. It’s not isolated – it’s a daily occurrence being repeated all across the country. You think this is acceptable @SeanFraserMP @karinagould? We’re a G7 country, act like it. 🇨🇦 deserves better. pic.twitter.com/p1qkwRklba
— Senator Leo Housakos (@SenatorHousakos) June 16, 2022
Other travelers complain that Passport Canada online application status tracker is not working and no one is answering passport Canada phone number.
Service Canada announced it had hired 600 new employees to help with processing passport applications, had opened more dedicated passport intake counters in Service Canada locations, had created more processing hubs, and had introduced a new workload management system and processing technology to increase efficiency.
Service Canada continues to hire and train more employees, including the integration of up to 600 new employees over the course of the year and the reassignment of up to 600 employees to passport service delivery.
Minister Karina Gould said “We understand that this situation is difficult and stressful. … The minister has directed officials to work as hard as possible to meet the demand and to examine operations to ensure they’re doing everything they can,”
Canadians continue to have to pay Service Canada for expedited passports, despite the minister assuring this house, that this wouldn’t be the case, half the time they’re not even getting the enhanced service they’re being forced to pay for this directive first came out weeks ago. And yet it’s still not being implemented.