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Canada PM, Justin Trudeau

New Task Force To Reduce Canada Immigration & Passport Delays

Today, Hon’ble Prime Minister of Canada announced new task force to improve government services. Information was shared via a news release. The news release quoted that delays in immigration application and passport processing are unacceptable and the Government of Canada is urgently working to resolve them as soon as possible.

The task force will be a Committee of 10 Cabinet ministers. And, they will review service delivery, identify gaps, and areas for improvement. Furthermore, they will make recommendations to ensure Canadians receive the highest quality of service. Additionally, Ministers of IRCC, Transport, and Social Development will act as ex-officio members of this new task force.

What Will The Task Force Do

The task force will drive action to

  • improve the processing of passports and immigration applications by identifying priority areas for action.
  • outline short- and longer-term solutions, with a focus on reducing wait times, clearing out immigration and passport backlogs.
  • with rising labour shortages causing air travel delays at the airports, the task force will also monitor the situation at Canadian airports.
  • improve the overall quality of services provided to Canadians.


Backlog in immigration stands beyond 2.4 million as per available data on June 6, 2022. Moreover, there has been long wait times for Canadian passport across Canada. Certain high volume passport offices even quote wait times of 6 hours and 30 minutes. Additionally, Canadians are lining outside these passport offices early in the morning at 4 a.m. waiting for their turns.

Liberals have been long hearing criticism on immigration backlogs and passport processing delays in the House of Commons. Recently, in effort to apprise Canadians of the passport wait times, Feds even started updating wait times at Passport and Service Canada offices three times a day so that people can plan accordingly. But, this was just a bandage for Canadians to proactively plan their visit, not a permanent solution to the problem.

Federal government has been announcing new measures to expedite processing from time-to-time. But, they have not been able to reduce backlogs and wait times in processing. It seems like the pile of files keep on growing with increased demand for these services post-pandemic. Hopefully, this new task force find a permanent and stable solution to deal with processing woes in coming days.

“We know service delays, particularly in recent months, are unacceptable. We will continue to do everything we can to improve the delivery of these services in an efficient and timely manner, and this new task force will help guide the work of the government to better meet the changing needs of Canadians and continue to provide them with the high-quality services they need and deserve.”

Justin P.J. Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Source: Prime Minister of Canada Office