Minister declares passport backlog ‘eliminated’

The backlog in Canada’s passport applications has been completely eliminated according to Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould.

She credits efforts made by staff at Service Canada and notes now applicants will be able to check the status of their passports online, similar to how Canadians can do with their orders at private companies like Amazon, which she calls a no-brainer.

“It was something that became abundantly clear and its a big lesson learned from the situation where we were a year ago.”

The passport backlog ballooned last summer following the easing of travel restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gould stresses however in order to access that option applicants must supply an email address for a verification process.

But despite the backlog being cleared, there are still some rough waters ahead with the possibility of a service disruption by federal employees, which could impact the passport application process, Gould remains optimistic a deal can be reached.

“We still want to make sure that we’re negotiating in good faith, and have full confidence in the negotiations that are ongoing.”