Mobile passsport offices across Canada coming soon

Trinidad and Tobago's Consul General in Toronto had some good news Sunday for T&T citizens across Canada who wish to apply for the country's new machine readable passports.

At the present time the Consulate in Toronto is the only office that receives applications for the new passports and every applicant must appear in person for an interview by an immigration officer.

Michael Lashley said the Consulate would soon start a mobile application process that would allow officials to travel to selected cities in Canada to offer a passport service to T&T citizens.

Lashley was speaking at the annual "We t'ing" celebrations at Queen's Park in Toronto to mark the 48th anniversary of Independence.

He said the mobile passport service is one of his major achievements, adding that the other is a new permanent home for the Consulate.

Last July the Consulate bought a building in Toronto for CDN$5 million but so far it has not occupied the premises and the diplomatic mission continues to operate from rented offices.

Read the story: T&T paid Cdn$5M for Toronto consulate building; US$12 for one in Washington

Lashley said as soon as he gets the approval for funds the mission will move to its new location at 185 Sheppard Avenue, West.

He also spoke about what the People's Partnership (PP) victory, which he called the "most earth shattering" event in the country's recent history. He said the change of government demonstrated that the country had matured politically.

Lashley added that there are two other significant things about the PP victory - a "unique reality" that it is possible for the widest possible coalition of interests to govern, and the election of a prime minister who has "shattered the gender-based political glass ceiling."

He also welcomed Senator Fazal Karim, Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education in the new People's Partnership government, who brought greetings from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Lashley noted that Karim was on a private visit to Toronto but found time to address a new T&T citizens group, Friends of Trinidad and Tobago, and to attend the independence celebrations.

The Charge d'Affaires of the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in Ottawa brought greetings from his staff.

He urged citizens to keep the national watchwords of discipline, production and tolerance alive stating that they remain as relevant today as when they were handed down by the country's first prime minister in 1962.

Keith Kerwood congratulated the new government of Trinidad and Tobago for its commitment to accountability and transparency and to citizen participation.