Update from Minister Gould on passport services

GATINEAU, QC, July 21, 2022 /CNW/ - "Passport services continue to receive our full attention as we work to improve service delivery. While passport services are not yet back to normal, we have added another tool to share information with Canadians and communicate our progress.

"Starting this week, Canadians can learn about the steps we are taking to improve services, see up to date statistics on delivery, and find answers to questions they might have by visiting the Passport Progress web page. This page also provides quick access to information on applying for a passport, finding a Passport Office or Service Canada Centre location, and typical service standards.

This is a reflection of our commitment to openness and transparency as we tackle this challenge.

"Weekly passport issuance over the last 5 weeks has remained relatively stable, at a higher level than previously. Between 45,000 and 48,000 passports have been issued for each of the last 5 weeks, with the exception of the week of July 4, which saw an improvement to 54,000 issued. We're doing everything we can to ramp that pace up every week, and get more passports into the hands of Canadians as quickly as possible.

"Service Canada staff are adding capacity, streamlining processes, and putting other solutions in place daily, and I thank them for their dedication. I will continue to keep Canadians up to date on our progress on a regular basis."

• For the week of July 11 to 17, staff have worked 7,076 hours of overtime.
• Since April 1, 2022, Service Canada has issued 605,440 passports.
• For the week of July 11 to 17, the average call centre wait time was 56 minutes.

Canadian passports and travel documents - Canada.ca 
Find a Service Canada Office 
Welcome to the eServiceCanada Appointment Booking Tool – E-service Canada.ca 
Passport program statistics - Canada.ca 
Improving passport processing - Canada.ca

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SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada