Ottawa expects a “significant reduction” in wait times in issuing passports by the end of the summer due to the increase in task staff and the optimization of processes.

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The minister responsible for the file, Karina Gould, said in a press release that she “remains concerned about resolving this unacceptable situation as soon as possible”.

Ms. Gould said that 150 additional employees are in training and should soon be added to the ranks of officials responsible for issuing passports.

In addition, employees from various federal departments and agencies were called in to help out.

The lines in front of Service Canada offices in the greater Montreal area are not what they were during the second half of June, but significant delays still remain.

The number of appointments to obtain the precious document has however increased, added the minister.

The cancellation of thousands of flights scheduled for this summer by Air Canada and WestJet has helped in particular to reduce the pressure on the system.

More than 808,000 applications were received by Service Canada between April 1 and June 30, "which represents 166,000 more applications than during the same period in 2019, which is the year before the pandemic", explains-t-t -we.

What's more, the government expects the total number of applications for the current fiscal year to be 4.3 million, up from the 2.4 million originally forecast.