Surrey mom wonders where third child’s passport is after receiving other two

Update May 11: Felicia Davis tells CityNews she was able to pick up her daughter’s passport on May 9, 2022.

Service Canada says the mishap was due to human error.

“Following an investigation, Service Canada found that the transfer to Ontario and mistake on the name on the envelope were due to human error. We regret this error and are taking action to ensure this does not reoccur. The application has been transferred to the Surrey Specialized Passport office per the clients request. The client has been contacted to confirm arrangements for pickup. The transfer and expedited service fees have been waived.”

Earlier:

A Surrey mother has been waiting since early February to receive her daughter’s passport, however, she’s already received passports for her other children. This is despite sending the applications together.

Felicia Davis mailed passport applications for three of her kids, including her twin daughters. She got new travel documents for her son and one of the twins last month, but she’s still waiting for a passport for the other twin.

Davis tells CityNews she’s been left wondering, “Why aren’t they keeping the families together?’ You would think the same household and the same envelope would go and be checked by the same.”

When Davis didn’t get one of their children’s passport along with her other kids in March, she called Service Canada and was told the application for the missing passport had been transferred to Ontario – a request she says she never made.

When another package arrived in the mail, she was excited, but it didn’t contain the passport.

“It was her documents back, so her birth certificate and cancelled passport but inside there was note addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Macdonald and it has no explanation it just said ‘here’s your documents back,’ but nothing told me whether I should go in, should I call, should I wait,” Davis explained.

Service Canada says each passport application is assessed separately, but it didn’t give a more detailed response on Davis’ situation. The agency has said increased demand has led to delays, with half a million applications received in March and April alone.

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MP Laila Goodridge is the shadow minister for Families, Children, and Social Development and says these delays are “absolutely unacceptable.”

“The lack of communication coming from the government on this serious issue is outstanding. This was a foreseeable issue, and it has been delay after delay and no communication,” she said.

Goodridge says it’s time to “fix this mess” as the processing levels are not making pre-pandemic targets.

“So we’re telling the government to put their thinking caps on and get to work,” she said.

Goodridge has heard from Canadians struggling to get a status update on their documents, let alone an actual passport. Vancouver Immigration Lawyer Sarah Goodman says she’s heard the same.

“The reason I think we’re seeing these delays is the labour shortages we’re experiencing across Canada and many industries, but perhaps another reason why we’re experiencing these delays is the government didn’t fully anticipate the increase in demand for passports as a result of the decrease in travel restrictions.” Goodman told CityNews.

Because training takes time, she says she does not expect improvement to happen overnight.

Davis says she understands the people behind Service Canada are human and are doing the best they can, however, “I did my due diligence, sending it in February. And for this to happen, it hurts.”

Goodman recommends people reach out to their MP. That’s something Davis has already done. She’s now waiting for the passport application to be transferred to Surrey, but she doesn’t have much time — the family has flights booked is supposed to be going to Disney World on Wednesday.

“All I kept thinking is what am I gonna do? How am I gonna tell my kids we can’t leave cause someone messed up? Like I – and then you get angry, and I don’t want to get angry and take it out on anyone but I did do my due diligence, I did give it enough time.”