One woman's passport crisis a red flag for many
CTV News | One woman's passport crisis a red flag for many
The point of this article is that your Canadian Passport is not going to safely get you home from many countries.. Don't count on going to many of these places and have your passport as a safe way home..
The bizarre story of Suaad Hagi Mohamud's passport-related, mid-summer identity crisis prompted Canadians to write to Ottawa about the issue, some expressing their concern that they could find themselves in the same boat in future.
It all began on May 21, when Mohamud tried to board a flight home to Toronto at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. When she was told that her picture didn't match her passport, the confusion only got worse.
After an investigation by Canadian consular staff, her passport was handed over to Kenyan authorities for prosecution. She then spent weeks fighting to clear her name, eventually proving through a DNA test that she was the mother of her Toronto son.
Nearly three months after her ordeal began, Mohamud finally made it home. She promptly filed a lawsuit against the federal government seeking more than $2 million in damages in a case that is still before the courts.
Through the Access to Information Act, CTV.ca recently obtained copies of about 50 letters and emails sent to Foreign Affairs and the Canada Border Services Agency this past summer. They reveal public concern that the same type of dilemma could afflict other Canadians, especially when a small photo on a passport can become a big problem.
A Canadian who traveled to Croatia few years ago, found "some disagreement with the Croatian border guards with regards to the difference of appearance between myself and my passport photo," according to a Aug. 12 email addressed to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan. While the dispute was solved easily, the letter-writer was "glad" to have avoided consular involvement after "witnessing what Ms. Mohamud has been through."
The offspring of a Canadian Army veteran lived in Kenya "for many years" and claimed to be exactly familiar with "the routine at Kenyan airports":
"The routine is that Kenyan officials will find some imaginary irregularity in your papers or the contents of your suitcase and pull you into a back room. Negotiations commence and you end up paying, preferably in US dollars, for the official to let you through," the army brat wrote to CBSA. "I know this and everyone who travels to Kenya know this -- and certainly any official who works at the High Commission in Nairobi knows this."
Some wrote to the government about more practical concerns when travelling -- alternate means of proving one's identity in the wake of the Mohamud mix-up, and how to keep a passport in good condition.
CTV News | One woman's passport crisis a red flag for many
The point of this article is that your Canadian Passport is not going to safely get you home from many countries.. Don't count on going to many of these places and have your passport as a safe way home..