With long delays for Canadians seeking a new or renewed passport, Service Canada says it is increasing staff at passport service counters to speed up processing before the summer travel season. However, passengers say they still have a long way to go.
The agency said on Tuesday that since the week of May 9, all passport desks that were closed due to COVID-19 have reopened, marking a 40% increase in capacity.
“Capacity in the waiting rooms has also been significantly expanded, and Service Canada has also taken additional measures to simplify and speed up passport processing,” the agency said in a statement.
In addition, Service Canada said it has hired 600 new staff to process passport applications and has opened more specialized passport offices at more than 300 centers.
But for many travelers, these new measures have not brought much relief to disappointing delays.
Matthew Kamina is one of the Canadians who resorted to camping in front of a Service Canada office to get a new passport for their newborn daughter before their flight on Saturday. He had been waiting in front of the Service Canada office in Surrey, British Columbia, since midnight on Wednesday in a queue that stretched around the building and across the parking lot to the sidewalk.
“From what we can see (these measures) not much has changed. I don’t think there are more people working today. “Yesterday, they said only two people would work and apologized that people called sick,” he told CTVNews.ca by phone on Thursday morning while still waiting in line.
He initially mailed his daughter’s application in early March, two months before their trip abroad in May. But his daughter’s passport could not be processed in time, which meant he had to postpone their trip back and try to send a quick application in person.
“I thought two months would be enough, but it wasn’t,” he said.
On the other side of the counter, the union representing Passport staff in Service Canada says it is also disappointed, as long delays create a “hostile work environment” for staff.
“Long queues and incorrect waiting time information disappoint customers and have the potential to create a dangerous work environment for Service Canada employees,” Kevin King, national president of the Union of National Employees, said in a press release Thursday. “We expect to see a concrete plan from the government to ease waiting times and protect the safety of workers and customers during this unprecedented period.
Between April 2020 and March 2021, Service Canada said it issued 363,000 passports. But now that Canada and other countries have eased restrictions on pandemic travel, more than 1,273,000 passports have been issued between April 2021 and March 2022. In April 2022 alone, 261,000 passport applications were submitted, compared to only 69,000 last year.
“Our teams are currently responding to the significant increase in demand for passports by working hard to maintain our service standards and provide Canadians with the documents they need to travel,” said Lori MacDonald, chief operating officer. Service Canada, online statement. “We thank Canadians for their patience during this time and continue to encourage them to plan ahead and apply early if they need passport services.”
Kamina said the federal government should have been better prepared for the increase in applications.
“I think the general comment here is that they knew they were going to open borders and that people were going to start planning to travel. This is definitely a lack of planning, “he said.
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