Surrey Service Canada Centre for passport renewal on Wednesday. Many in line spent the night there, shivering in tents as an unseasonable storm approached.“We showed up here yesterday at 5 a.m.
and we stayed here overnight. It’s been horrible,” said Avang Narjali, who is five months pregnant and was accompanied by her one-year-old, father and cousin.“I’ve been going in and begging them to help us but they just keep giving us the same answer.” Lineups, wait times for passport renewal soar as pandemic restrictions end Narjali is going to Europe in June.
She said she’s been told there are no available appointments for those travelling within 25 business days, and every time she’s called Service Canada, no one has answered.Frustrated, she paid $200 to postpone her flight.In Surrey, security guards have been handing out a limited number of tickets to enter the passport renewal office each day.
The number of daily tickets varies, Narjali explained, so it’s unclear how many in their community of campers — many of whom have flights within 48 hours — will be served.“Thankfully it’s very respectful,” she told Global News, referring to those in line with her.