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Passport Renewals Finally Go Online, and The Arctic Has an Investment Problem.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Passport Renewals Finally Go Online
Canada opened online passport renewal to all eligible adults in Canada on Tuesday, which is one of those government-service sentences that sounds boring until your passport is six months from death and your nearest Service Canada office is an expedition away.
The new system lets applicants upload the form, a commercial digital photo and payment through the IRCC portal. It keeps the same 20-business-day service standard as mail or most Service Canada renewals, and urgent cases still have to go in person. CIC News says the online option is for citizens 16 or older whose passport was issued in the past 15 years, is already expired, or expires within six months.
The catch, unfortunately, is geography. Canada.ca says Canadians applying from outside Canada still have to use mail or a Government of Canada office abroad. Useful if you are back home. Less useful if you are renewing from Bangkok, Berlin or Brisbane.
Read more: Canada.ca / CIC News
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The Arctic Has an Investment Problem
An internal RCMP report warned Ottawa that foreign actors could use big infrastructure offers to gain influence in northern Indigenous communities, Canada's National Observer reports. That is the kind of national-security story that starts with roads, ports and telecoms, then ends up in the much larger file marked sovereignty.
The report, obtained through access-to-information, warned that communities may be approached with large investment offers meant to shape local decisions. The worry has new context because Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed said in June that Inuit could look at foreign investment if Ottawa is not a better partner.
The money gap is the whole plot. A 2024 ITK report estimated $75.1 billion is needed to close priority infrastructure gaps in Inuit-owned lands. If Canada will not build the basics, someone else may offer to.
Read more: Canada's National Observer