Update May 26, 3:51 p.m.: About 24 hours after the CBC contacted Canada and the Citizenship and Immigration Department, passport officials called Williams to tell them that their children’s passports would be processed Thursday and be ready to take on May 30 in Surrey, just in time for their trip to Disneyland on June 3.
Ask Barb Walter’s family and they will tell you that the 56-year-old grandmother would give anything for her loved ones.
But since they learned she had terminal cancer, the family said they were trying to get her back on a trip to Disneyland in California.
They said they wanted to make the trip as a family so that Walter could make lasting memories with his three beloved grandchildren.
“This may be the last thing she can do with us as a family while she is still able to leave the house,” said Brandon Williams, 42, Walter’s son-in-law and father to her grandchildren. his family in Hope.
Barb Walter is pictured with his grandson Arthur. Cheyenne Williams, Walter’s stepdaughter, says that after she and Brandon started a family, Barb and Cheyenne’s father moved from Vancouver to Hope to help care for the children. (Brandon Williams)
“She wanted to take the family to Disneyland and make this trip happen anyway. Part of her list of interesting things.
But the trip is in question, Brandon said, due to delays in obtaining children’s passports.
Williams’ wife and Walter’s stepdaughter, Cheyenne Williams, applied for passports for their three children, aged three to seven, in late April – as soon as they learned that the cancer, originally discovered in late 2020, was incurable.
She applied by priority mail, as there were no face-to-face meetings available in the Lower Continent. The Ontario Passport Office received the application on April 25.
She has since said she has not heard anything from Service Canada. Cheyenne described calling 20 times a day to get an update. All it will receive is an automated system that does not provide answers, she said.
Barb Walter, left, with granddaughter Mara. Cheyenne describes Barb as a stepmother who has been in her life since the age of four. (Brandon Williams)
On May 15, she tried to obtain information from an online form system, but did not respond.
Their flight from Vancouver to California is scheduled for June 3.
“This is definitely the stress I’ve been carrying every day since we mailed our passports,” said the 30-year-old Cheyenne.
“I’m trying to plan this trip and I know how excited my mother is about it and how wonderful it would be for her to spend this time with them. But every time I think about it, I think, “There’s a chance this won’t happen.”
In recent months, Canadians across the country have described painful delays in renewing or applying for passports.
The federal government has stepped up efforts to clear the gap, but the Williams family said they are looking for guarantees that a special trip will still be possible while the family still has time together.
A question for the whole of Canada
The CBC asked Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada to comment on the story, but received no response within the deadline.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said clearing up the accumulation of passport applications is a priority.
People were filmed in long queues at the Passport Services office in downtown Vancouver in April. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
Trudeau said 43,000 passports are now processed every week. Several hundred passport workers have been hired in recent months.
Approximately 500,000 passport applications were filed in April and May, according to Service Canada.
He added that travelers must have a valid passport before planning any international travel.
Brandon said he wanted action on their file, or at least some answers.
But he also wants to emphasize that sometimes a family vacation is more than a holiday, he said.
“For some people, that’s all,” he said. “I mean, that’s all for my mother-in-law, you know?”
Walter, speaking briefly on the phone, said it would be “absolutely devastating” not to make the trip to Disneyland, as she is trying to make the most of the coming months.
“It’s very disappointing,” Walters said of the delay in her grandchildren’s passport. “It’s pretty amazing.”
To give his family the best chance to fly, Cheyenne said he plans to camp overnight at the Vancouver Passport Office for a face-to-face meeting.
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