Question Period Note: NUNAVUT ATHLETES' PASSPORT PROCESSING FOR ARCTIC WINTER GAMES

Lori Idlout (NDP) raised concerns about the challenges faced by Nunavut athletes in accessing expedited passport services

• Le gouvernement du Canada s'engage à travailler en collaboration avec le député de la circonscription du Nunavut et le gouvernement territorial afin d'accélérer le traitement de ces demandes et de permettre aux jeunes du Nunavut de participer aux jeux d’hiver de l’arctique.
• Le gouvernement du Canada maintient une présence vitale dans les communautés du Nord, rurales et isolées afin de garantir l'accès aux programmes et aux services.
• Service Canada évalue en continu les besoins de ses clients et de ses communautés afin de s'assurer que ses services correspondent à la demande des clients et restent adaptés aux besoins des Canadiens.If Pressed on service access in Nunavut
• Clients in Nunavut are encouraged to utilize the 20-day passport services available at the three Service Canada Centres (SCCs) in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and Cambridge, along with 13 Scheduled Outreach sites.
• Depending on the client’s travel patterns, they can also receive urgent or express passport services at passport offices located in Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.
• Service Canada is prioritizing in-person access for vulnerable populations and underserved communities; efforts are ongoing to explore service delivery options, in particular on rural and remote areas in Nunavut as well as in the territories/provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan.
• As part of our commitment to Indigenous reconciliation we continue to find ways to improve access to government services and benefits by working collaboratively with Indigenous communities and other key partners.
• Community Outreach and Liaison Service (COLS) provides access to programs, services and benefits to clients where they live and/or spend time, with a focus on vulnerable and underserved clients facing barriers to accessing benefits and services.If Pressed on options for Canadians to get service

• Clients can check approximate wait times for Service Canada’s passport offices on Find a Service Canada Office webpage to help prepare for their visit.
• Clients have the option of booking an appointment for a passport service using the eServiceCanada portal.
• Clients can track the status of their application anytime and from anywhere on the Passport Application Status Checker.
• Clients can access passport services through three SCCs in Nunavut, as well as 13 Schedule Outreach sites: Service Canada offices in Nunavut

The department responded to post-pandemic service delivery challenges with a focus on ensuring Canadians received high-quality and efficient government services.
Canada’s passport program experienced a set of interconnected issues created by the pandemic, which manifested through pressures on Service Canada’s passport service delivery. In response to the challenges, significant work was undertaken to eliminate the backlog and return processing times to pre-pandemic levels. The backlog was eliminated at the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year.
99% of passports, regardless of intake channel, were processed within the 10- and 20-business days service standard. Service Canada have carried some actions forward, as it prepared for anticipated volumes:
• Launched an appointment-booking tool that directs clients to the right location for service while continuously updating the website with up-to-date statistics and wait times.
• Launched the Passport Application Status Checker in March 2023, allowing clients to track the progress of their application.
• Expanded eligibility for simplified processing to replace expired passports (up to 15 years) as renewals rather than new applications.
• Increased access to passport services, with the addition of 21 Service Canada Centres offering passports within 10 business days, with additional sites launching in the coming months.
• Expanded the delivery of passport services to scheduled outreach sites to help meet the passport needs of rural and remote communities.

Service Canada also continues to work with the passport program owners at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as they modernize the system and continue to improve the automation of the application process in order to increase our processing capacity for simplified renewal applications.

• Canadians can submit completed paper applications for a passport by going to any of the 317 Service Canada Centres, 19 passport offices or by mail.
• As of January 8, 2024, 245 out of 247 Scheduled Outreach sites offer passport services.
• This fiscal year, as of the week starting January 22, 2024, Service Canada has received over 3.8M applications compared to 2.7M in 2023 for the same period and issued almost 3.5M passports compared to 2.6M in 2023 for the same period; of which 97% of all applicants received their passport within the 10- or 20-business day service standard (the target is 90%).
• For the week starting January 22, 2024, 97% of Canadians who have applied for a passport received it within service standard compared to 70% in 2023 for the same period.
o 97% who applied in-person at a specialized passport office received their passports within 10 business days compared to 97% in 2023 for the same period.
o 98% of Canadians who applied by mail or at a Service Canada Centre received their passports within the 20-day service standard compared to 51% in 2023 for the same period.