Why does the government forget us?

Hey Canadian government! Remember me? I was born here! I have numerous forms of identification to prove it, not to mention an entire extended family that also lives here and countless friends who can vouch for me also. I should have prefaced this rant with the facts. First, I am getting married this summer. Second, in order to make the marriage legal we need to obtain a marriage license (sounds simple, right?). Third, in order to escape for some romantic relaxation on our honeymoon, I need to renew my passport. Following so far? I hope so. Apparently I have lost our government in this process, and they have forgotten that I exist. For those who have not made the right of passage into married bliss, let me explain. In order to obtain a marriage license you require a birth certificate, passport (or driver’s license) and for one of you to apply in person. Oh, and you also need to fill out an application form containing all of this information as well. Somehow between my passport application (which also requires birth certificate, driver’s license, witnesses and a guarantor) and my marriage license application the government has gotten confused. The result of this is that I have to produce all of this information repeatedly over and over again. I feel like a monkey dancing for the pleasure of a sadistic tormenter. Let me ask you, the intelligent public, a simple question… I have a passport, obtained using the above mentioned identification and hoop jumping, can I please have a marriage license if I show you my passport? Logical response: “Yes, of course! Congratulations on your impending nuptials, we wish you all the best. Go Canada!” The Government of Canada’s response: “NO! You must be some sort of illegal immigrant! You must have stolen that passport, and we don’t care if you have a wallet full of matching identification and have lived in Canada for your whole life. We need to see all your information AGAIN. We need to see your original birth certificate, AND your passport, AND we need you to fill out this form with all of your passport information and birth certificate information, AND you need to show up here in person so we can question you and ask you all of this information AGAIN. Only then, will we be able to verify that it is in fact you (insert slap in the face here).” I can’t help but wonder… what’s the point of having identification if it can’t be used to identify us?

1 comments:

March 27, 2009 at 3:23 PM Andrew H said...

That's what happens when one person tries to beat the system and ruins it for everyone else.

Post a Comment