Following the opening of five new passport pick-up locations on 25JUL, as reported by Open Jaw, the federal Minister responsible for Canada’s passport services, Karina Gould, announced four new passport pick-up locations across the country.
Effective 17AUG, Canadians can now apply for and pick up their passport at the following Service Canada Centres:
- Trois-Rivières, Québec
- Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
- Red Deer, Alberta
Unlike the regular Service Canada Centres, these four locations offer 10-day service, which means that Canadians can apply for a passport in one of those four locations and Service Canada says the passport will be available after 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.
Service Canada says the opening of the four new locations is part of its commitment to providing passport services within 50km of home for most Canadians. In addition, the department added that more scheduled outreach sites to provide certain passport services will be added "in the coming weeks" across the country.
“Service Canada is working tirelessly to identify and implement solutions that not only improve the speedy delivery of passports, but also improve the service experience for Canadians. We will continue to make our services more accessible for all Canadians,” said Gould.
Improvements on Passport Wait Times
In a statement, Service Canada says the implementation of its triage system on 20JUN in 17 of 35 of its passport offices has made a "significant impact" in reducing lineups and redirecting Canadians to the appropriate means to access service. The average wait time at call centres has also improved, going from a peak of 108 minutes in APR to 27 minutes as of last week.
Since 01APR 2022, Service Canada has issued 801,353 passports.
