A resident of Quebec is entangled in administrative setbacks to obtain his passport.
Adopted at the age of 3, Karoly Lavoie grew up in a family in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.
Since he was born in Romania, the Canadian citizen was required to present a certificate of citizenship when it came time to apply for a new passport.
Mr. Lavoie had already held a Canadian passport, but he had not renewed it because he was no longer traveling.
Me, my birth certificate [a] lots of fleur-de-lis on it: I’m from Quebec. This paper doesn’t work for me because I was born elsewhere, but it’s the only country I’ve known
relate-t-il.
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Since he was born in Romania, the Canadian citizen was required to present a certificate of citizenship when it came time to apply for a new passport.
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In 2019, he had to apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to obtain his citizenship certificate before he could dream of his new passport.
Due to a change of address, the document never reached him. However, he had used the rerouting services of Canada Post. The document was declared lost.
Certificates are generally sent by regular Canada Post mail service. […] Certificates approved for urgent processing are sent by mail with a tracking number.
Mr. Lavoie had in the meantime obtained a provisional passport for a period of two years.
Three years later, in 2022, he decided to file another application for a citizenship certificate, again paying the associated costs.
The federal deputy for Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier, Joël Godin, has been supporting Mr. Lavoie in his efforts since October. By means of representations within the ministries concerned, he tried, with his team, to resolve the impasse.
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The office of MP Joël Godin supported Karoly Lavoie in his efforts.
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After a complaint filed by Karoly Lavoie, the latter obtained, in December, a passport for a period of one year, which constitutes an exemption, according to the federal deputy.
In the process, this does not normally happen, but in the circumstances… It must be emphasized that there are people in both ministries who have heard common sense and who have recognized the evidence: this person is not a criminal and this person was wronged by the Government of Canada. So, they made a waiver.
Mr. Lavoie nevertheless assures that the fight is not over, because he still does not have his real passport in hand.
With information from Louis-Philippe Arsenault
