Good afternoon everybody.
Madam Chair, vice-chairs and committee members, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to answer your questions about passport services.
Ms. Jody Thomas, Passport Canada's Chief Operating Officer, and Mr. Gary McDonald, Director General for Policy and Planning, are accompanying me today. They will also be able to answer your questions.
I will limit my opening remarks to three elements.
First, I will briefly explain the new security environment in which Passport Canada and passport agencies worldwide operate.
Second, I will review the current challenges we face regarding the provision of passport services to Canadians in light of the newer requirements imposed by the United States' Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).
Third, I will conclude with a very brief outline of our plan of action to improve services to Canadians while strengthening the integrity and the security of Canada's travel documents.
[English]
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, there has been a significant increase in the threat posed by terrorist groups, against which Canada is not immune. Last September, enforcement agencies prevented a homegrown organization from causing mayhem in Toronto; and only a few days ago, media referred to the threats made by al-Qaeda against Canada's oil and gas facilities.
Criminal organizations involved in activities such as human trafficking, child pornography, and identity theft have long expanded beyond their national boundaries.
Passports, as a tool of the trade for terrorists and criminals alike, have become a hot commodity, each worth thousands of dollars on the international market.
In such an environment, the national passport is no longer an annex to your plane ticket. It has become the international document of choice to confirm the identity of individuals.
However, prior to 9/11, the role of a passport in terrorist activities was not well understood, and therefore Passport Canada was not a government priority. Since 2001, Passport Canada has been working to transform itself from a service-based organization issuing travel documents to an increasingly security-driven organization involved in identity authentication and domestic and international security measures.
In this context, and long before the Auditor General's report of 2005, Passport Canada had already contributed to a series of domestic and international initiatives designed to reinforce the integrity of the passport issuing process and of the document itself. These initiatives continue in conjunction with the implementation of an action plan that will address the concerns raised by the Auditor General in her recent follow-up report.
[Translation]
Canadians are travelling more and more, and are increasingly required to present official travel documents to cross international borders. Since 2001, the number of passports issued has increased from 2 million annually to a record high of 3.1 million in 2005.
Over the same period, while the cost of providing secure, world-class documents has risen, the fees charged to Canadians for passport services have remained relatively unchanged. As a Special Operating Agency that finances itself, Passport Canada does not receive funding from the budget through annual appropriations. In order to remain within the parameters provided by the current service fees, we must try for the right balance among the costs related to security, service and the other functions of the organization.
It was only on November 23, 2006 that the United Stated settled on the date of January 23, 2007, to implement the air travel requirement under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. This prompted many Canadians to apply for a passport, just as our regular peak season for passport demand was starting, even though the land and sea implementation phase of WHTI is at least a year away.
The arrival of WHTI coincides with several factors that make the current situation very challenging for Passport Canada: a return of the cohort of Canadians who applied for a passport in the aftermath of 911, an ongoing increase in international trade, demographic changes, and our economic success, even more prevalent in western Canada.
[English]
Demand has been much higher than expected. Nationally, based on a model developed by the Conference Board of Canada, we anticipated a 6.6% increase over last year's record, and we planned to deal with the potential increase of 8%. In reality, the rate of increase nationwide currently exceeds 16% on an annual basis.
However, month over month the increase is even more dramatic. We recorded a 33% increase in November 2006 over 2005, 31% in December, and 30% in January. I'm talking about the rate of passport issuance. And if you look at demand for those three months, we're talking about a 50% increase month over month compared to last year. This is a key fact about passport services: demand is not constant throughout the year. Canadians apply during a peak season that extends from January to March. This year the season started in full force in early November.
Passport Canada has hired and trained a significant number of new employees, asked all available employees to work overtime, improved access by expanding its network of receiving agents, and streamlined its operations. These measures and others have resulted in an approximate 25% increase in its daily processing capacity. But the fact remains that Passport Canada, both the employees and the infrastructure, is overloaded with demand. Despite all measures taken, there is a backlog, and it continues to grow.
Our immediate objective is to stem the backlog, reduce service delays, and return to our service standards as quickly as possible. We think this can be achieved thanks to the dedication and hard work of Passport Canada employees, the integration of new staff, and further optimization of our processing methods.
We are also preparing to deal with the next surge in passport demand, which is expected to occur when the second phase of the western hemisphere travel initiative is implemented at the land and sea ports of entry, sometime between January 2008 and June 2009. In all these preparations, we will not jeopardize the integrity and security of the Canadian passport in the name of expediency.
[Translation]
Canadians are expecting their government to deliver quality services at a reasonable price. To meet these expectations, we are working on a four-pronged approach that should position Passport Canada next to the best service agencies in the world.
First, we need to simplify our policies and procedures pertaining to passport renewal. Most Canadians should be in a position to renew their passport without having to appear in person or mail their proof of citizenship and identity to Passport Canada. Such an improvement would lead to a significant reduction in line-ups at Passport Canada counters.
Second, we need to expand our reach closer to our clients through partnerships. This expansion would be done through partnerships with other agencies such as Service Canada, CRA or Canada Post.
Third, we need to automate most of our clerical functions and transfer those resources toward our core mandate that is the authentication of identity, and the protection of the passport and the integrity of the issuance process.
Finally, as we accrue savings through the first three components of the strategy, we need to invest significantly in new electronic systems and security features that would reinforce the quality of the passport.
[English]
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I welcome questions from the members.
:
Thank you for coming. Mr. Bonin wanted you to come. Others will put his questions for him.
You know that I am very aware of the challenges. I wonder how you are going to proceed, because you spoke of using Service Canada, and we understand that. I have been told that Service Canada needs to hire many people to do the work that we are doing. Their results will not be any better than ours.
The first question I want to put to you, because I am worried, has to do with emergency services. There are no emergency services anywhere to the north of Toronto or Ottawa, except in Thunder Bay, which is 16 hours from Sudbury by road or 10 hours from Sault Ste. Marie. There are four offices in Toronto. There are two offices here.
Do you not think that it could be important, on certain occasions, to have emergency services available? Due to human nature, urgent situations come up, and they can come up often. A mining town like ours has many business transactions with foreign countries. Many of us have to go all the way to Toronto to get a passport. It is really unfair to compel them to do this when they need a passport in a hurry. We no longer have an emergency service.
My office has been working with the community for years. I understand, and let me reassure you that you did an extraordinary job in facing those challenges, and I thank you for it. However, the only big problem is with emergency passports. Service Canada will not be able to handle them either.
:
First, I must state my comments from an MP's point of view. I will refer to a question by my colleague, Mr. Bonin. This is a practical question, and I will tell you about my personal situation.
It goes without saying that my employees are there to serve the voters. It is a part of their job and of mine as well. I have a budget for this purpose. This is basic.
Previously, I had one half of a person for dealing with passports and birth certificates. We also help people fill out their forms, this occurs very often in Quebec and also when dealing with foreign countries. We help them in every way we can. I imagine that my colleagues do that as well. Let me emphasize that I am speaking on my own behalf. I would not want you to think that I am speaking on behalf of others and I would not want others to speak on my behalf.
Thus, I had one half of a person-year and there was no problem. Currently, I have one and a half person-years. My riding office has a reasonable operational budget, but I have no budget to hire an employee and a half to deal with passports, a half person-year to deal with employment insurance, a half person-year for other miscellaneous things. I would have six assistants and I could no longer spend on anything else. I could no longer travel.
You might think that we are offering quality services because I am a federal member of Parliament. This is done in a non-partisan way and has nothing to do with my being a federalist or not. I am not a federalist. There are federal programs, and we offer the services.
But my co-workers and myself bear the brunt of all the criticism. I created a system. Thus, if they are not happy, we will move out and I will have them sign a brief letter that I will send to the minister. Thus, you can expect some correspondence. I really want to help, but I cannot do anything about the criticism. All I can do is repeat to them what your employees tell me. You know that they are doing their best. Unfortunately, that does not go very far.
With regard to the MP Desk—I am currently the MP for Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata—Les Basques—, we might just as well forget about it. It is not their fault. Perhaps they did not get any training. I do not want to call them incompetent, but they do mislead us with regard to the timelines and dates for the issuance of emergency passports, etc. It is easier to deal with competent people in the Quebec and Montreal regions than to use the MP Desk. I want you to know this. I will not identify any employees by name or by number. I simply want to tell you that this system really does not work.
You tried to answer the chair's question, and I understand that the same question is being asked thousands of kilometres from here, perhaps less so in eastern Quebec. I think that I can speak for my other colleagues from that region because I know them very well. In eastern Quebec, on the north and south shores, namely in the St. Lawrence estuary, something could be done so that people do not have to go all the way to Quebec. People from Gaspé have to drive for five, six, seven or eight hours to get a passport. In the winter, it is out of the question. It is useless.
Let us forget Post Canada, because even if you pay $15, there are further problems. People try to be polite, they tell you that your photo is attractive, but it is not accepted, and the application is returned. I have observed this, among other things.
With regard to Service Canada, and now I am speaking on behalf of my riding and the neighbouring ridings, Service Canada is not at all prepared to do anything at all in this area, unless we give them the tools that they need, or recruit new personnel or whatever.
Now let me ask you my question. Ms. Thomas, you answered a few questions, but I was astounded to hear one of your answers today. I understand that you said that you did not think that you were hit all that hard. I am very surprised, because you, or at least Mr. Cossette and your associates, were aware of the number of travellers from Quebec and Canada that go to the United States every winter, in addition to business travellers, etc. You had some idea of the number of people and of the time when this would happen. Moreover, the United States had been discussing this for a long time. It was a question of time. However, I was astounded when I heard you say that you had been taken by surprise.
What is your current backlog? What measures have you taken to make sure that applications are promptly dealt with? In my opinion, 60 days is too long.
Now let me deal with my colleague's question. If you receive a mail bag today, how long does it take for it to get opened? We understand that there is a backlog of mail bags.
Do you realize—and this was Mr. Bonin's question—that during that time, the $85 for the federal government in the envelopes are not deposited in the bank?
Imagine if the employee in charge of the mail—I think that this must be a monumental task—opened the envelopes, took the cheques and the credit card payments to cash them in. I understand that you would get paid in advance, but I wonder if the clients would be happy with that. Thus, the money remains inactive. To complete Mr. Bonin's question, could you give us an idea of how much money is lying inactive in mail bags?
With my first question, I wanted to know why you told the clerk that you were available for only one hour.
:
It's interesting that you raise the question, because that's a criticism we get all the time: “Why don't you hire people faster?”
We have to clear these people from a security standpoint. People handling passports, physically printing and so on and so forth, need security clearance. It's not as if we could hire a clerk from the street, put them in our room, and then have them process passports. So it takes longer than maybe it should, given the fact that these people require security clearance.
That's why, also, we are taking the time it takes to do the processing, the identification of documents, and so on and so forth. We're not skipping over steps because the volume is increasing. We understand that it is frustrating for Canadians, but after all, this is a document that guarantees your identity and confirms your identity in Canada, but moreover when you travel abroad. So it's extremely important for us to make sure the document keeps its good tradition and so on and so forth.
When it comes to the AG's report, the Auditor General has two main concerns. The first one, when it comes to security, is access to the system. We have an electronic system that gives access to lots of people, from the examiner processing the file, to potentially the administration officer doing the administrative issues. One of her concerns is the fact that too many people have access to all that information. We are in fact in the process of closing dormant files that are not active. We are also in the process of verifying on a monthly basis who has access to the system. If people don't need to have access to the system, we just basically remove their capacity to do so.
But above and beyond that, there's also the fact that very few people in practice have the capacity to get an application from the beginning and produce a passport at the end. Very few people have access to the bags, the electronic system, the security feature, and the passport itself. In theory, yes, it works, but in practice it doesn't work that way. I don't have access to all the buildings myself. So the functions are segregated in such a way that very few people can do the whole thing.
The second aspect of her concerns relates basically to authentication of the document itself, which has to be done with the provinces, and criteria that may prevent people from having a passport, having a criminal record and so on and so forth. The exchange of information among federal agencies and between the federal level and provinces hasn't been as good as it should. We're making significant progress on that front, with the signature of MOUs with the RCMP, CSIS, and so on and so forth. We're making also significant progress when it comes to the electronic capacity of exchanging information live, because the issue is not only to exchange information, it's to do it on time. Otherwise, it's useless to do it three weeks after the fact.
We recognize that it could go faster and be better, but slowly we're moving toward having the security features we need to deliver the documents we would like to deliver.
Many citizens coming from a northern riding in a rural and remote area have a great deal of difficulty with passport requirements, even regarding passport pictures. It has turned out to be a problem for many of our people. It adds considerable expense, and it's something that perhaps Passport Canada could look at in terms of a Service Canada centre, particularly in Yellowknife, or if you're going to open one in Inuvik. If you had photographic equipment there, it would guarantee that the photographs would be of sufficient quality to make the passport application work. That would be very useful.
In many cases I've had people with dual citizenship come to me and say, “I sent my passport from Yellowknife to England, and I sent one in to the Canadian office at the same time. The one from England came back in two weeks, and the Canadian one took considerably longer.” I wonder if in some respects we can look at other countries to find out how to streamline our mail services to ensure that these things are working in a correct fashion.
I'm looking at your projection here and your target for mail delivery, and I can't really say that I've seen those results at all. That goes before your particular ramp-up of passports in the last while. So I'd say that we really need to look at how the mail service is working to ensure that people in rural and remote communities have better access, more guaranteed access, because it's very difficult for them.
I've had the situation where people have to take an airplane to a passport centre in order to get their passport to meet up with their obligations. They could be involved in better planning, and that might help them, but that's not always the opportunity they have. I'm sure you've heard this a hundred times.
Something really has to be done for rural and remote communities across the country to smooth out the system and to ensure that in each post office in the country, for example, there is a very clear understanding of the nature of passport requirements in very plain English, with very good displays, which would allow people to make sure that when they fill out the passport application, they're doing it correctly, and that language and the understanding of technology is not as much of a problem as it is now.
Those are some of the things that maybe you'd want to comment on.
:
Well, you're right. Access is a problem in the north, and we are trying to improve it through the Service Canada outlets. That solves only part of the problem. We're aware of that, and we're looking at how we're going to provide emergency service.
What we have done and what we are doing to improve the mail services, the surge of volume notwithstanding, is that we are committed to opening the mail within 24 hours of its arrival. That's been going on for about three weeks.
We are pre-screening those files and rejecting upfront the incomplete applications or the ones where the documents required aren't there or the photos are clearly unacceptable. That's about 30% of the intake.
So it was frustrating for people before the pre-screening was occurring, because their mail would sit there—there's no doubt—and then it would be rejected at some point. We clearly saw, right away, that wasn't acceptable. So we are rejecting mail within 24 hours of its arrival, and that's 30% of our applicants.
Another 14% to 16% of those are rejected because there are problems and difficulties with the form, which clearly indicates to us that we have to revamp the form. So there's a project under way to do that. It sounds simple, but it's not really that simple an undertaking to change a federal government form. We're working on it.
It's also clear that our photo standards, our tolerance for accepting photos, is too strict. So we are revising our standards for photos and expanding the tolerances now and changing how we're approaching our training. Our employees are very dedicated to making sure that we maintain high security standards. They follow the rule of the law in terms of the policy we've put in place. That's what they should do. The policy is too strict and the approach is too strict, so we're changing that to expand the tolerances for accepting photos.
There are a number of things under way to try to improve the quality of service and the immediacy with which people hear that they have a problem. That's going to evolve. It started about three weeks ago. It's going to be an evolving effort as we get through this backlog of mail that we have.
But you're right in your observations, and we are addressing all of them.