In welcome news for northern travellers, Sudbury will be home to a new ten-day passport office, part of new measures to improve service delivery at passport offices across the country.
Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe made the announcement today on behalf of both she and Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré.
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 the 19 Lisgar St. location of Service Canada Sudbury, as well as seven other locations across the country.
Unlike the regular Service Canada centres, these eight 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 their passport in less than 10 business days, they will need to visit a passport office that offers express or urgent pick-up service.
These measures are in addition to the triage system recently put in place in 17 of the 35 Canadian passport offices, which officials say have helped reduce wait times and lineups at Service Canada offices and to the call centre. The call centre's wait times have improved from a peak of 108 minutes to 28 minutes, Lapointe’s office stated in a news release.
The expansion of pick-up sites will allow many Canadians who need to pick up passports to do so closer to their homes, as the release also states that Service Canada is “fully committed to providing passport services within 50 kilometres of the home of Canadians.”
Lapointe told Sudbury.com the 10-day passport office in Sudbury would join Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay in having a full passport office, and that every Service Canada office throughout northeastern Ontario can still accept passports and help people with their application.
“But those that have urgent needs now have greater options,” she said.
Lapointe said her passport issues have been one of the main reasons for visits and calls to her office, especially for those with urgent travel needs.
“We've known that there has been an increased demand for passports, which is why Service Canada and the minister have put in a lot of measures to try and help reduce those waits,” Lapointe said. “Extended hours, offices being open on Saturday and for hours. There's also triaging for urgent needs so that we can ensure they receive their passports on time. And there's also been an increase in staffing to be able to help service the extra demand.”
For more information on the passport office or Service Canada near you, click here.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized, including the Black, Indigenous, newcomer and Francophone communities, as well as 2SLGBTQ+ and issues of the downtown core.
