Update on May 26 at 3:51 p.m .: Approximately 24 hours after CBC contacted Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration, passport officials called Williams to tell them their children’s passports would be processed. Thursday and they would be ready to pick them up on May 30 in Surrey, 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 discovered he has terminal cancer, the family said he had struggled to return it with a trip to Disneyland in California.
They said they want to take the family trip so that Walter can have lasting memories with his three beloved grandchildren.
“That might be the last thing you can do with us as a family while you’re still able to get out of the house,” said Brandon Williams, 42, Walter’s father-in-law and father. of his grandchildren, speaking from his family home in Hope.
Barb Walter is photographed with his grandson, Arthur. Cheyenne Williams, Walter’s stepdaughter, says that after she and Brandon started a family of their own, Barb and Cheyenne’s father moved from Vancouver to Hope to help care for the children. (Brandon Williams)
“I wanted to take the family to Disneyland and make this trip possible in any way possible. Part of their to-do list.”
But the trip is in question, Brandon said, due to delays in getting children’s passports.
Williams’ wife and stepdaughter, Cheyenne Williams, applied for a passport for their three children, ages three to seven, in late April, as soon as they discovered that the cancer, originally discovered in late April. 2020, it was terminal.
He applied for priority mail, as there were no face-to-face appointments available in Lower Mainland. An Ontario passport office received the application on April 25.
Since then, he said they had heard nothing from Service Canada. Cheyenne described calling, at one point, 20 times a day for an update. All it would get is an automated system that would not provide answers, he said.
Barb Walter, left, with granddaughter Mara. Cheyenne describes Barb as a second mother who has been in her life since she was four years old. (Brandon Williams)
On May 15, he tried to get information from an online form system, but that didn’t work.
His flight from Vancouver to California is scheduled for June 3.
“It’s definitely a stress I’ve been carrying every day since we mailed our passports,” said Cheyenne, 30.
“Trying to plan this trip and find out how excited my mom is with him and how wonderful it would be for her to spend that time with them. But every time I think about it, I think, ‘There’s a chance it won’t happen.’ . ‘”
In recent months, Canadians across the country have described unbearable delays in renewing or applying for passports.
The federal government has stepped up efforts to close the gap, but the Williams family said it is looking for assurances that the special trip will still be possible as long as the family still has time together.
Problem across Canada
CBC asked Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada to comment on this story, but received no response within the deadline.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that eliminating delays in passport applications is a priority.
People show up in long lines at the Passport Services offices in downtown Vancouver in April. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
Trudeau said 43,000 passports are now being processed every week. Hundreds of passport workers have been hired in recent months.
An estimated 500,000 passport applications were filed in April and May, according to Service Canada.
He added that travelers should have a valid passport before planning any international trip.
Brandon said he wants actions on his file or at least some answers.
But he also wants to emphasize that sometimes a family vacation is more than a vacation, he said.
“For some people, that’s all,” he said. “I mean, it’s all for my mother-in-law, you know?”
Walter, speaking briefly over the phone, said it would be “absolutely devastating” not to make the trip to Disneyland while trying to make the most of the next few months.
“It’s very frustrating,” Walters said of his grandchildren’s passport delay. “It’s pretty amazing.”
To give her family the best chance to make her flight, Cheyenne said she plans to camp overnight at the Vancouver Passport Office for an in-person appointment.