Speaking to CBC Radio’s The House in an interview on Saturday, Trudeau said he understands that there is a lot of stress among would-be travelers right now. “This situation is unacceptable,” he said. “There is real concern among families facing these things and we need to step up.” Pressed by host Chris Hall to say why the situation is so weak when it was obvious to most observers that passport demand would increase as COVID-related travel restrictions were lifted, Trudeau said the government had hired more than 600 passport workers. in January and We are ready to hire even more to help remove the delays. “There is a lot of unrest as people return from COVID. But that’s why we work day and night to make sure people get their passports,” Trinto said. “We process tens of thousands of them every week. We make sure to deliver as quickly as possible what people need and expect from their government.” With processing times slower than usual, many Canadians choose to obtain a passport or replace an expired one through a personal visit to one of the 35 nationwide passport offices that accept applications. CLOCKS Do you need a passport? Expect a long wait:
Passport applicants face long waiting times due to “unprecedented” demand
Ottawa says passport demand is “unprecedented,” with Canadians seeking new passports waiting weeks for their travel document. The government has launched a new online tool to tell people how long they can wait to see an agent to process a standard passport application or an “urgent” or “express” application for people traveling in the near future. As of Wednesday, waiting times exceeded five hours in many locations. In Ottawa, the site informed applicants that they can wait for almost seven hours, which means that some people in line will not be visible until the office closes at 4 p.m. Limited office hours and long queues have forced some travelers to camp at night to save time when these offices open at 8:30 a.m.
“Just pure anarchy”
Disappointed travelers have turned to Google Maps to voice their grievances through online passport checks. “It was a horrible experience! We went to apply for a passport around 7 in the morning and the queue was already very long,” Taghrid Chahine said in a recent post about their experience with the only Ottawa passport office. “I felt bad for the moms who were with their children who waited for hours and then were not served!” “Shame on every man, woman and child who created this monster of a system,” said Luke McCutcheon, another traveler in the Ottawa area. “No appointment, no tickets when you enter the queue – just sheer anarchy.” “Waiting times are ridiculous. You have to take leave all day to line up and wait and wait and wait,” said Eireann Aldrich. “This government is a joke,” said Emma Ayetor, who said she waited all day just to be stopped when the office closed at 4 p.m. In Montreal on Tuesday, the situation at the Guy-Favreau complex’s passport office became so chaotic that police had to intervene to control the crowd, as well as more than 750 people queuing up to be seen by an agent. Security personnel had to intervene at the Service Canada Guy-Favreau complex in Montreal on June 21 to deal with the crash of a crowd waiting to apply for or renew passports. (Ivanoh Demers / CBC)
“The passport office can handle it,” says the minister
Family Minister Karina Gould, the minister in charge of passport services, said on Wednesday that while some passport offices may have problems, others are working fine. “What we see in other parts of the country is, yes, queues before the passport office opens, but these lines run all day and people are visible,” he told reporters. “There are many, but the passport office can handle it. They are stressed, they are stressed, but they can,” he said. Asked if the federal government had failed Canadian travelers by giving them such a long wait, Gould said Ottawa “predicted there would be an increase in demand”, but did not expect so many passport applications to arrive at once. “What we did not expect was that all the applications would come at the same time in March and April, and also that so many of the applications would be new applications and not renewals,” Gould said. He noted that 85 percent of applications are new, which takes longer to process than renewals.
Passport training can take up to 15 weeks
He said they are adding staff, but noted that because passport processing is a sensitive issue for security reasons, the training program for new employees can last up to 15 weeks. In January, 1,500 employees worked on the passport program. Since then, the government has hired 600 employees and redeployed another 600 former passport or other employees and is actively hiring another 600 people, according to government figures provided to CBC News. A Gould spokesman said the department had identified 200 federal employees working for the Employment and Social Development of Canada (ESDC) who may be relocated to help process passports, and the Canada Revenue Service is also determining if any of its employees can to be posted to work.
