Chris Jones

Review of Consulate General of Canada in...

Friday July 19, 2019 I made a frantic trip from Sa...

Friday July 19, 2019 I made a frantic trip from Sacramento to Consulate General of Canada.
I recently moved from Seattle to Sacramento and the freeways in California were foreboding to me.
I took an, Uber, AMTRAK and a bus to the Consulate. Due to an error by The United State Postal Service my registered passport application was sent to the United Kingdom were it leisurely traveled for 10 day before making the trans Atlantic trip back to the United States and on to Canada. After multiple calls to passport Canada it was received on June 25th and there was no possibility of it being issued in time for my July 24th departure. I placed a call to the Consulate in San Francisco and received a call back from Marni Kellison, Consular Program Manager, Emergency Management Liaisons. Marni was a godsend with a reassuring voice, that calmly told me she would make my trip happen. She scheduled an appointment for the very next morning and talked me through the steps to cancel the application with Passport Canada so I could be issued an emergency passport. I was in a panic in thinking I was going to miss the memorial service for both my parents that had been on hold for a time when all of our family could be together. I am the only one living in the US. Marni was professional and knowledgeable and an extremely warm person. In spite of a few extra glitches she had my temporary passport courier to me and it arrived this afternoon.

From the moment I got off the elevator and stepped through the doors of the Consulate, to the friendly receptionists ,to the framed pictures of the Queen Mother and Our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. I felt such an overwhelming Patriotism. I am so proud to be a Canadian citizen. Thank you Marni for making it happen. I will have a double double and a butter tart toast to you when I land in Toronto.