Karina Gould, the minister responsible for Canada's passport services, announced 07SEP the designation of four new passport pick-up locations across the country.
These are in addition to other new passport service locations announced over recent weeks, as Open Jaw has reported, part of measures designed to clear a backlog of passport applications the government has admitted is "unacceptable."
Effective immediately, Canadians can now apply for and pick up their passports at the following Service Canada Centres:
- Sudbury, Ontario (Sudbury Service Canada Centre)
- Lethbridge, Alberta (Lethbridge Service Canada Centre)
- Kingston, Ontario (Kingston Service Canada Centre)
- Sherbrooke, Québec. (Sherbrooke Service Canada Centre)
In addition to the existing passport offices offering pick-up service, Canadians with proof of travel can now both apply and request in-person pick-up of their passport at a total of eight Service Canada Centres. Unlike the regular Service Canada Centres, these locations offer 10-day service, which means that Canadians can apply for a passport in one of those locations and the passport will be available in 10 business days, either by mail or in-person pick-up.
If Canadians need passports in less than 10 business days, they will need to visit a passport office that offers express or urgent pick-up service.
At the same time as making the announcement of further passport pick-up locations, the minister took the opportunity to reiterate that Service Canada has introduced other new measures to improve passport service delivery and decrease wait times. They include a triage system introduced this summer in 17 out of 35 passport offices. The average wait time at call centres has also improved, according to the minister, dropping from a peak of 108 minutes in APR to 28 minutes last week.
