Long Waits Outside Montreal Passport Office, Police Called Due to Size of Crowd

The federal minister responsible for Passport Canada is calling the situation at a Montreal passport office unacceptable.

Families Minister Karina Gould says senior managers are on the ground in Montreal and 600 additional people have been hired to deal with Canada-wide passport processing delays.

Montreal police say they were called to the downtown passport office this morning due to a large crowd waiting for passport appointments.

More than 150 people were waiting at the office shortly after noon, with some who spoke to The Canadian Press saying they’d arrived the night before, hoping to get inside to renew their travel documents.

Florent Cohen, who had been waiting since shortly after 4 a.m., says officials have said little to the people waiting, and what information has been provided has been inconsistent.

Quebec’s minister responsible for Canadian relations, Sonia LeBel, said it’s ridiculous that people are camping out to get a passport and she called for immediate action from Ottawa to handle the demand.

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