The background is that in December 2022 I moved from New Zealand to Ottawa, Canada in order to spend the last years of my life near to my children. I had worked in Ottawa for 10 years in the 1980s and my children are all Canadian citizens. In those days I had been a permanent resident of Canada (though not a citizen), a status I had had to renounce on leaving Canada in 1992.
Canada has a programme whereby citizens can apply to bring their parents and grandparents to live in Canada as permanent residents. It allocates places to applicants by a lottery system but at present that programme has been suspended. Instead there is a programme that allows parents and grandparents to hold a long term visitor visa (a Super Visa); it is ostensibly valid for 10 years and allows visits of up to 5 years at a time. My children and I decided that I should apply for a Super Visa and that I would make a new life in Canada with them.
The application process is dauntingly long and costly but that is another story. The very abbreviated version is that I now have a Super Visa and live in Ottawa.
Once my Super Visa had been granted I had to set about integrating into my new environment and complying with its laws. As I was no longer a short-term resident I knew I would have to register with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in order to pay my taxes. For this, the first thing I needed was a Social Insurance Number (SIN). I did not at first see this a problem as I still retained my SIN from the 1980s but I thought I should verify that my old SIN was still valid.
The first bit of bad news emerged only gradually. A visit to Service Canada (the agency that deals with SIN matters) and a long wait to be seen produced incomprehension as to why I would need a SIN at all as I did not intend to work. To my answer that I needed it to pay my Canadian taxes I received the response "OK, so where is your work permit?". I responded "But I don't intend to work". More incomprehension followed by the suggestion that maybe my existing SIN would suffice, but then the comment that my old SIN was for permanent residents only (it did not begin with a '9' you see, or maybe you don't). Then finally the advice to call the CRA to ask whether I could retain my old SIN.
That afternoon I phoned the CRA. That's not as easy as it sounds because one gets directed to a series of automatic telephone menus, each with a long (sometimes several minutes long) explanation of various further menu options. After about 40 minutes I got a human being who gave me the news that a return to Service Canada would be necessary and that I needed a new SIN. At least that seemed definite if disappointing news.
The next day I was back at Service Canada and another long wait. The outcome was not satisfactory. The agent I saw said he absolutely did not know what to do: the combination of issuing a SIN to someone who did not intend to work appeared to be an insoluble conundrum. However this agent helpfully supplied me a telephone number for a Service Canada helpline and I phoned it later that day.
After a 30 minute wait to speak to a human being I was buoyed by her initial apology about the wait. Further positive feelings were caused by her disparagement of the Service Canada office that had twice turned me away. She gave me a set of instructions to follow for my next encounter with Service Canada and I returned home optimistically.
On no account was I to return to the original office so I looked up her recommended office. Gloom ensued as this office was about 50 kilometres away. I decided to try a different and closer Service Canada office.
On the morrow, armed with many pieces of official documentation I presented myself to this new office. Initially I caused the same consternation I was now familiar with but this time I stood my ground and explained that I knew there was a solution and all they had to do was find it.
The agent I was speaking to accepted the challenge. His first move was to phone his superior. This superior was similarly stumped and so he phoned his own superior. At last there was a breakthrough. Some relevant forms and procedures were located and I was able to make my application for a new SIN receiving the news that it would take no longer than 24 business days.
Last week I received by mail (dated November 21) the notification of my new SIN. Unfortunately and perplexingly the notification stated that my SIN would expire on November 22.
I may be 77 years old and no longer as sharp as I once was but even I perceived that this was nonsensical so I phoned the number given on my notification for further inquiries. Again, many menus and minutes later, I spoke to a human being. She took my inquiry for a 15 minute excursion as she consulted her superior and returned with the advice that I should wait for 4 weeks: then, if no clarifying mail arrived, to phone again in January.
I can hardly wait.
***Addendum***
As there was no clarifying letter I did phone again in January. There was no very long phone wait. I was told that I should not be concerned that my new SIN had been cancelled after one day, that this was the normal procedure, and I could continue to use my cancelled SIN for tax purposes. While this was reassuring my perplexity with the whole process remained.
***End of Addendum***
At the beginning of this post I promised some summary conclusions about Canadian bureaucracy and I shall begin with two comments. The first is that the saga I have recounted is only the latest in a series of similar frustrations and the second is that I fully accept that the public services in Canada are under-resourced and doing their best within an imperfect system. That said I think the Canadian services I have dealt with (public and private) are different to those in New Zealand in that the personnel are not empowered to act with initiative. Instead they are captive to their processes which they follow with robotic precision. That sounds bad and often it is awful but there is a reason for it. The system is designed to make it difficult for persuasive individuals to make special pleas for preferential treatment - and, of course, that is laudable.
Canada is a larger country than New Zealand and has chosen a system that does not automatically assume that its citizenry act in good faith. That is sad and, as I have discovered, it often leads to apparently absurd outcomes.
