Ottawa, July 15, 2018

I have some comments about the services that are supposed to be provided by Canadian Embassies in other countries. The first requirement is to serve the needs of Canadians in those countries when requested. By and large, the majority of senior officials in those embassies are family, friends and hacks of the senior government officials. This applies to most countries. My experience when visiting a Canadian embassy was in most cases, a waste of time. The only Canadian Embassy that I can speak good about, in all my experiences, is the Embassy in Paris.

Back about 2000, the government greatly increased the price for passports, using the false story line that it was necessary because of the great number of lost passports and the cost to replace them. In the same line, they said that replacements would be easier and at minimum cost. Not True.
 I was in Paris with a small group of friends after having been in London for a week. We took the Chunnel across the channel, and had been in Paris for about five days. We were in the last evening in Paris. Our return train was at noon the following day. While having dinner, someone took one of the lady's purses off the chair she was sitting on...the back had a horn on which she hung her purse. In it were her passport, money and credit cards. I took her to a nearby police station where we reported the theft, and the police could not have been better. They gave us an office with a phone, and told us to call any place in the world we needed to. They spoke English fluently. We called Visa in Canada, her Bank and so on to have the cards cancelled....all at no cost to us. We were not far from the Canadian Embassy, and at 09;00, we were at the Embassy. There were a lot of people there for documents to Canada, and what not. As soon as we went in, an official came to us, found our problem, and started the process for a temporary passport. They demanded one hundred dollars cash...and photos to proceed. We were directed to a near by photo shop, and a bank. I had to take out money for the passport, and photo...the Embassy could not help!!!. However, in just over an hour, we had the temporary passport, good for one year. When I asked about the things we were told back in Canada, the man laughed, and said...don't believe anything the government tells you!.
We had ample time to get to Gare du Nord and the train back to London. The embassy staff were great, and most polite.

I was in Brasilia, Brazil a few years later and went to the Canadian Embassy....only to fine one local lady at the front desk, and told that all Canadians were taking time off, and were at the golf course...
not sure about tomorrow!.
My experience in Bangkok on July 3, was not good. All information we were given at the front desk....15 floors below the Embassy was useless. The two email contact numbers were dead, and the phone did not work.
My advice is to avoid our overseas offices unless it is a dire emergency. They do not want to be bothered.   While External Affairs, (now Global Affairs under Trudeau) ask us to tell them where we go, it is a waste of time, in my opinion!.