Albertans trying to pick up rushed passports and deal with other things only available at the downtown Edmonton Service Canada site were out of luck Thursday because Canada Place was closed.
The federal building on Jasper Avenue is temporarily closed due to flooding and water damage, according to Service Canada’s website and notices posted on the door of the building.
An employee told Global News they showed up for work and were told there was no heat in the building and staff were moved elsewhere for the time being.
The notice said the building was closed until Monday, Dec. 9, at 8:30 a.m.
While there are several Service Canada offices in Edmonton, the downtown passport office is the only site in the city where people can request (for an extra fee) urgent delivery (next business day), express delivery (two to nine business days) and delivery in 10 business days.
The normal wait time is more than 20 days with the passport being delivered via Canada Post — which isn’t an option now, amid the strike that’s gone on for the past three weeks.
Tanya Johnson and her daughter Chloe Kitchen showed up Thursday morning only to be told by security the building was closed.
Johnson has her passport already but Kitchen and her three sisters ordered rushed passports for an upcoming trip to Africa — they leave on a month-long visit to Zimbabwe in 10 days.
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“We actually were here, what, three, two weeks ago? Johnson said. “I originally went to another Service Canada office and they said, ‘You can have it Dec. 30,’ and I said, ‘No, I need a faster than that.’ So we came up here.”
“We were here six hours. And then we come back today to pick up the passports and we can’t.”
Thankfully the family lives in Edmonton so coming back another day isn’t a huge inconvenience compared to those who travel into the city from out of town.
Ada Lawrence also has plans to travel outside of Canada with her husband. Getting downtown isn’t easy for the young mom, who said she has three-month-old twins and a toddler daughter.
Lawrence got a notice to come to Canada Place on Thursday to pick up her passport so she arranged babysitting with her mom, only to arrive and find the doors closed and lights off.
“I got the confirmation yesterday to come in this morning and getting here, I was told that there’s been a major issue,” she sad, adding she wishes Service Canada had sent out a notice about the closure she so she didn’t have to head downtown for nothing.
“It’s really frustrating because I have to come back again,” she said, adding the delay is stalling her travel plans.
A similar scenario occurred a decade ago in the downtown building, when in March 2014 a pipe burst on the fourth floor, causing flooding and water damage.
The three other Service Canada offices in Edmonton that can process non-urgent passport applications are located in the southeast inside Millbourne Market Mall, on the west end near 168th Street and 107th Avenue, and on the north side inside Londonderry Mall.
Those willing to drive can get a passport in 10 business days from the Red Deer Service Canada Centre, or even faster via the Calgary Centre Service Canada Centre and Passport Services in that city’s downtown core.
Global News has reached out to Service Canada for more information about the flooding at Canada Place and solutions for those affected by it. This story will be updated if a response is received.
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