Need a passport? Don’t apply during PSAC strike, minister urges
Global News
'My best advice to Canadians is not to make that application right now because it just simply won't be processed,' said Families Minister Karina Gould.
Canadians are being urged not to apply for a new passport or renew an old one as the major federal workers’ strike — which shows no sign of ending — severely disrupts services across the country.
“My best advice to Canadians is not to make that application right now because it just simply won’t be processed,” said Karina Gould, minister of families, children and social development.
“So if you dropped it off and then needed those primary documents, they wouldn’t be able to give them back to you until after the job action is complete,” she told Eric Sorensen on The West Block Sunday.
Gould said even though Canadians can mail their applications and drop them off at a Service Canada location or a passport office, essential workers are not allowed to open and process them except for very narrow emergency circumstances.
“Unfortunately, by law, passport services are not considered to be essential, so that means anyone who is applying for a new passport or to renew a passport — unless it is in a very set prescribed set of circumstances — will not be able to apply for a passport while the strike is ongoing,” Gould explained.
The only exceptions are for people experiencing humanitarian or emergency situations, such as travel for economically essential work, medical services abroad, to see a critically ill family member or in the event of a death in the family, said Gould.
The passport program has already been significantly curtailed due to the labour disruption, which entered a fifth day Sunday.
Only 500 applications considered urgent or essential were processed Wednesday when the strike kicked off, said Gould.
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