Canada’s passport office took more than two years to bring in-person staffing back to pre-pandemic levels despite being aware of increased demand for travel documents, federal records show.
The records, obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, also noted that more than a tenth of passport officers (11 percent) continued to work from home as late as this past summer.
According to data in the records, the passport office had a total of 831 staff stationed at public service centres on March 1, 2020. However, as of Jan. 1 this year, staff level was down by 9 percent, leaving only 757 employees manning the counters. The federal agency did not reach pre-pandemic staffing levels until this past May….