The new app and pickup service will be available in Trois-Rivières, Que. Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Charlottetown, PEI; and Red Deer, Alta. People applying at these locations will be able to receive their passports in 10 business days, Karina Gould, the minister responsible for the passport system, told a news conference in Trois-Rivières. “This will make life significantly easier for those applying for a passport in these areas,” he said. Ottawa plans to offer 10-day processing times in “nine or 10” additional locations in the near future to meet the government’s goal of offering passport services within 50 kilometers of most Canadians, Gould said.
Ottawa did not anticipate the extent of the demand: Gould
The move to open new pickup locations marks the government’s latest effort to improve what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as an “unacceptable” situation facing would-be travelers. Service Canada, the agency that processes applications and distributes passports, warned earlier this year of an “unprecedented increase” in applications as Canadians eager to return to international travel flooded their offices with applications. “We knew there would be increased demand for passports after the restrictions were lifted, but we didn’t anticipate how much increased demand there would be,” Gould said Wednesday. At the peak of demand this spring, passport applications are said to have been 40 times higher than before the pandemic. Gould said “the situation has improved significantly” since June, when a monthly high of 281,055 applications were submitted for the year. Ottawa has pledged to hire more workers and has assembled a task force in an effort to reduce wait times. Despite these efforts, Canadians continue to report months-long delays before receiving their passports. These delays forced some families to cancel their travel plans. Unusually long lines have also become a common sight at Service Canada locations, where applicants have reported taking extreme measures, such as arriving before sunrise to claim a spot in line. According to the latest government figures1,092,560 applications have been submitted to Service Canada since April 1, and 748,784 passports have been issued during that period.
