Vancouver mom relieved missing passports found after week lost in courier’s custody

A Vancouver mother was sent on a holiday roller-coaster as her passport and visa went missing in the mail.

A Vancouver family embarking on a new life in Los Angeles hit a roadblock after they were left waiting for their passports and visas to show up in the mail.

After the lengthy process of securing the documents, Gabrielle van Klaveren was expecting them to arrive during the holidays. The Purolator tracker showed the package left a Toronto sorting facility on Dec. 8.

That same day, it went through the Mount Hope, Ont., sorting facility, before departing and hitting bad weather along the way to the west coast.

After a short delay, the tracker showed it arrived in Richmond on Dec. 9.

The private documents appeared to be kilometres from her home in downtown Vancouver, but van Klaveren says they sat there for multiple days as she was forced to hit pause on her photography career south of the border.

“When I contacted Purolator, I clearly disclosed that the package contained passports and visas. A critical trace was initiated, and I was transferred to the tracing department to work directly with a tracing specialist,” said van Klaveren.

She went on to say that communication began to dwindle and she was left with more questions than answers as to where the passports were.

After three days, she says, Purolator sent her a message stating the investigation had closed and that she would need to contact the sender.

“It just doesn’t seem like it’s handled properly or with the amount of care that it should be,” said van Klaveren.

Vancouver lawyer Darren Penner explained that replacing these documents can take weeks, months or potentially longer.

There’s no set timeline, and additional pressure from levels of government may be necessary to fast track the documents.

Early Christmas gift

Hours after CTV News contacted Purolator about van Klaveren’s situation, she received an early Christmas gift.

Purolator explained to her that they had found her package and would deliver it to her within the next hour.

CTV News caught up with her Wednesday afternoon, hours after the initial interview, and indeed she did have the package and the two passports and visa.

“This is my recovered passport and visa, which is surreal,” said van Klaveren while holding the package.

“I’m just super grateful and I honestly think it’s just that collective pressure that we put on.”

While her sights are set on southern California, van Klaveren is hoping others won’t face similar issues, and that sensitive packages are more secured during delivery.

Purolator response

In an email, Purolator told CTV News it cannot comment on the specifics of any individual customer’s package. When a shipment is reported missing, Purolator said, it initiates a trace investigation and conducts an exhaustive search across its network.

“In this case, after the initial trace was completed, the matter was escalated within our operations teams,” reads the statement.

“We are pleased to confirm that the package was located within 24 hours of that escalation and has since been delivered to the customer.”