'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
With lengthy delays for Canadians seeking to get a new or renewed passport, Service Canada says it’s upped staffing at passport service counters to expedite processing ahead of the summer travel season. Yet, travellers say they’re still facing long wait times.
The agency announced on Tuesday that since the week of May 9, all passport service counters that had been closed due to COVID-19 have been reopened, marking a 40 per cent increase in capacity.
“Capacity in waiting rooms has also been significantly expanded, and Service Canada has also taken additional measures to simplify and expedite passport processing,” the agency said in a news release.
Additionally, Service Canada said it had hired 600 new employees for processing of passport applications and opened up more dedicated passport counters at over 300 centres.
But for many travellers, these new measures have brought little relief to the frustrating delays.
Matheus Caminha is one the Canadians who had resorted to camping outside a Service Canada office in order to get a new passport for his newborn daughter ahead of their flight on Saturday. He had been waiting outside the Service Canada office in Surrey, B.C. since midnight on Wednesday in a line that stretches around the building and across the parking lot, up to the sidewalk.
“From what we can see, (these measures) didn't change much. I don't think there's more people working today. Yesterday, they said that there will only be two people working and gave the excuse that people called in sick,” he told CTVNews.ca over the phone on Thursday morning while he was still waiting in line.
He had initially sent his daughter’s application by mail at the beginning of March, two months ahead of their trip abroad in May. But his daughter’s passport couldn’t be processed in time, which meant that he had to push their trip back and try to send an expedited application in person.
“I thought two months would be enough, but it wasn’t the case,” he said.
On the other side of the counter, the union representing passport staff at Service Canada says it’s also feeling the frustration as long delays create a “hostile working environment” for staff.
“Long lines and incorrect information about wait times is frustrating clients and has the potential to create a dangerous work environment for Service Canada staff,” said Kevin King, national president of the Union of National Employees, in a news release on Thursday. “We expect to see a concrete plan from the government to alleviate wait times and to protect the safety of workers and clients during this unprecedented period.”
Between April 2020 and March 2021, Service Canada says it issued 363,000 passports. But now that Canada and other countries have eased pandemic travel restrictions, the period of April 2021 to March 2022 saw more than 1,273,000 passports issued. April 2022 alone saw 261,000 passport applications, compared to just 69,000 the same last year.
“Our teams are currently responding to a significant surge in demand for passports, working hard to maintain our service standards and get Canadians the documents they need to travel,” Lori MacDonald, chief operating officer of Service Canada, said in a statement online. “We thank Canadians for their patience during this time, and continue to encourage them to plan ahead and apply early if they need passport services.”
Caminha said the federal government ought to have been better prepared for the surge in applications.
“I think it's the overall comments here is that they knew that they were going to open borders and that people would start to plan to travel. It’s definitely a lack of planning,” he said.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.