Nearly 137,000 travelers are waiting for their passports, stuck in Canada Post warehouses or held by Service Canada due to the strike across the country. Many Quebecers among them are anxious and are taking multiple steps to succeed in obtaining their document before their departure abroad.
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On November 21, Service Canada confirmed that 85,000 official travel documents were awaiting delivery. The Journal learned Tuesday that there are now more than 137,000 across the country.
“According to my tracking number, my passport would have been mailed the day before the strike began, November 14. Ultimately, it was never sent. It’s held up and I can’t get it back right now, because I’m leaving in more than ten days. It’s excessively stressful,” says Marie-Philippe Filteau, who is waiting for her passport so she can go to her in-laws in France for Christmas.
Marie-Philippe Filteau hopes to have her travel document in time to go with her family to France for a first Christmas with her in-laws.
Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
His new official document is currently in the hands of Service Canada since the start of the strike, since there is no possibility of secure delivery.
“In view of a possible interruption of postal service, Service Canada has temporarily suspended the sending of passport packages after November 8, 2024. […] These passports will be sent by mail once the interruption of postal service is over and regular postal service has resumed,” explains Employment and Social Development Canada spokesperson Maja Stefanovska.
“Between the tree and the bark”
In the meantime, tens of thousands of Canadians are “stuck between the rocks and the bark”, in the eyes of Sarah-Maude Boivin, who needs her passport requested in October for a family trip planned for December.
As the departure date approached, she tried to request the transfer of her document so that it could be sent to the Service Canada center closest to her and she could pick it up in person, as suggested by the government website. However, she is unable to do so because her trip is more than 10 business days away.
“I’m too late to reapply for a passport, but not late enough for it to be treated as an express application. I called last week and I haven’t heard anything since,” laments the young mother of two children.
Last minute
“It’s very anxiety-inducing to make us wait so late,” complains Marie-Philippe Filteau. I went there to reapply for a passport and was told that it was not possible. I showed them my proof of travel and I have to wait another week to request a transfer and it will be treated as an urgent case.
The mother claims to have made numerous calls to the Passport Program in the hope of getting through to the telephone line and pleading her case, while time is against her.
“It’s stressful, because a lot of people want to leave at Christmas. Government employees must be overwhelmed with requests…”
Canadians waiting for their passports
- More than 137,000 passports held by Service Canada or stuck in Canada Post warehouses
- Average wait time of 32 minutes to speak to an agent
- 2,649 transfer requests to the country in the week of November 18 to 24
- Passport applications sent just before the strike will not be processed until postal services resume
Source: Service Canada
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