Nelly Kamagu hopes to be able to get her and her children’s passports before their flight to Cameroon tonight.
It looked gloomy, but now she’s finally having an appointment after waiting in line at the passport office at the Guy-Favreau complex in Montreal on Monday.
“I feel better,” she said. “Now I have hope. I’m already inside, so … I’m very happy.”
Kamagu was one of hundreds of people waiting in line on Wednesday morning, queuing around the block as prospective passengers struggled to renew their passports.
The federal government launched a new system in Montreal on Wednesday after Carina Gould, the Minister of Family, Children and Social Development, said the delays at Guy Favreau’s office were the worst in the country.
One by one, those waiting on Wednesday morning began receiving fixed-term tickets so they could leave and return with minimal delays.
It felt like the light at the end of the tunnel for some who had been sleeping outside for days.
But by 9:15 a.m., Service Canada officials said the passport office had reached its capacity for the day and would not schedule any more meetings, forcing those waiting in line to return tomorrow.
“I want a bed,” complained Maxim Reno-Blondo, who has also been waiting outside since Monday.
He has already missed a flight. His plane to Atlanta was scheduled to take off Wednesday morning. He said that if he did not receive his passport today, he would give up his trip altogether.
“I’ll just say, I’m not going, Mom, I’m not coming,” he said.
Before the new system was introduced, the waiters had taken matters into their own hands, implementing their own first-come, first-served system to protect people from the queue. Police were finally called in to take control of the crowd.
Police were called again on Wednesday after tensions erupted over news that there were no more meetings.
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