Massive lines for SIN cards and passports in the Greater Toronto Area
Herman Singh has been in Canada for three days—two of them were spent waiting outside a Service Canada office to get a Social Insurance Number.
“Yesterday I came here at 11 o'clock and the security told me to leave because I would have no chance to get [to] my turn here, so today I came at 5 o'clock,” the international student told CTV News Toronto as he stood outside the Service Canada location in Brampton, ON.
His story is not unique. Hundreds of people lined up in a queue hundreds of feet long, snaking around the building into the back alley and behind an adjacent restaurant.
By midday, many were told to go home and try again another day.
Daniel Mendy was one of the lucky few closer to the front of the line told to return later in the afternoon. He arrived from the Gambia last Thursday to study health care administration at Fanshawe College.
He says he has been staying in Brampton close to the service center before leaving for London, hoping to have a SIN card to make getting an apartment, bank account, and job that much easier.
“Today I have to wake up very early I’ve been here since 6 am in the morning,” he said. “I waited for hours, and later on I was told I had to wait until later in the afternoon around 4:30 [pm] before I have to come back again.”
Delays at Service Canada for passports have been ongoing for months, and something Employment and Social Development Canada—which oversees Service Canada—has deemed “unacceptable.”
“Service Canada expects the passport backlog to drop significantly by the end of the summer Employment and Social Development Canada advised in a public update on August 17.
The lines outside Service Canada offices like Brampton aren’t dissipating—as the fall semester looms, many international students are arriving in Canada.
Service Canada advises on social media and on plastic notices outside service centers that people may seek official documents online, instead of in person.
Mendy wasn’t taking any chances. Even after being told his name had been taken down and to return in the afternoon—he stayed, seeking shade around the parking lot.
“Having to wait through the day, it’s not easy,” he admitted.
His resolve, he says, comes from why he came to Canada.
The 30-year-old nurse is looking to learn how to improve the health care system in his homeland.
“Studying in Canada in one of the best education in the world which has that, I believe I will definitely be able to contribute hugely in my country,” he said.
“That is my inspiration.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Some structural damage' from wildfire near Fort Nelson, B.C., mayor confirms
More than one home has been damaged or lost due to a massive wildfire outside of the B.C. community of Fort Nelson, the mayor confirmed Wednesday.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver says he got a cellphone ticket for using his points app in the drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
B.C. YouTuber ordered to pay $350K for 'relentless' online defamation campaign
An 'unrepentant' YouTuber has been ordered to pay $350,000 in damages as compensation for a 'relentless' campaign of defamation waged online against a business owner and his company, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.
Chief says grave search at B.C. residential school brings things 'full circle'
Chief Robert Michell says relief isn't the right word to describe his reaction as the search begins for unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school he attended in northern British Columbia.
'Endless Shrimp' just one misstep for Red Lobster as it eyes bankruptcy protection
While it's unclear what these closures might mean for the 27 restaurants in Canada, Red Lobster is expected to file for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this month.
B.C. man shot sex worker in the back during drug-fuelled birthday, court hears
A man from B.C.'s Lower Mainland has been sentenced to four years behind bars after shooting a sex worker in the back during a drug-fuelled 43rd birthday.
'Inhumane conditions': 68 dogs pulled from Winnipeg home
Nearly six dozen dogs were seized from a home Wednesday morning by the Winnipeg Humane Society. It is the largest known seizure of animals in the city’s history.
Ontario's 'Crypto King' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Of the $40-million Aiden Pleterski was handed over two years, documents show he invested just over one per cent and instead spent $15.9 million on "his personal lifestyle." The 25-year-old Oshawa, Ont. man was arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering on Tuesday.
Driver said he smoked pot oil, took medication before Florida crash that killed 8 Mexican workers
A man with a long record of dangerous driving told investigators he smoked marijuana oil and took prescription drugs hours before he sideswiped a bus, killing eight Mexican farmworkers and injuring dozens more, according to an arrest report unsealed Wednesday.