Consulate of Portugal in Toronto closed due to lack of human resources – Society – RTP Madeira
The delegate of the STCDE-Union of Consular Workers and Diplomatic Missions Abroad at the Consulate of Portugal in Toronto, since 2019, also regretted the “lack of interest of the tutelage in solving this problem for years”.
“We are difficult, but the person cannot answer the phone and a simple word is one question at a time, we try to answer ’emails’ a lot, it is exhausting, the employees are exhausted and there is no guardianship of comfort, of affection , in which I can give a cabal, opening competitions and being able to place employees here at the consulate in Toronto”, he stressed.
The death of the Chancellor of the Consulate General of Portugal, on 12 June, exacerbated a crisis in this consular post to despair in access to essential services for thousands of Portuguese in the region.
“We have a lot of social networks, protests, including on the networks, we are attacked daily with insults like not working, all this motivation. Employees are unmotivated, although alerts have already been made, both by me, as a union delegate”, lamented André Domingues.
Through ‘e-mail’, the Portuguese consul general in Toronto, José Carneiro Mendes, posted any comments on the situation that the consular is going through to the competent services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Following the sudden and unexpected death of the post chancellor, Dr. João Rodrigues, we are carrying out an internal restructuring of the consulate services which, for now, involves appointments, in which we select the most urgent cases”, wrote the diplomat.
Lusa contacted the press office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which sent clarifications for later.
In 2013, the Toronto consular post had 23 employees, a number that has been reduced over the years, but due to a restructuring, under decree-law 47/2013, many of the employees terminated the contract, leaving only 18, a number that was written and has never been reset.
“In 2018, employees were hired, but in the meantime, because of the interest of employees in staying at the consulate, since they are not hired to be reviewed since Decree-Law 47/2013. There is a dataset that there is no change12 years that just established Domingues.
According to the union delegate of the STCDE, “Lisbon is already aware of the situation”, and must be carrying out the attempts, sending from Portugal so that the consulate can “open safely”.
For André Domin needs, as the main ones for this problem to be solved, go through the reinforcement of “human resources are deficient at the moment”.
“There is a huge lack of human resources at all levels, no aspect of reorganizing the structure of the consulate, which should have superior technicians, more technical assistants, a sufficient number capable of responding to this huge community, in Ontario and Winnipeg, with about half a million Portuguese residing in this area”,
At the consulate every day 150 to 200 need the most diverse types of citizen cards, passports, civil records, notary and visas, for which currently the post “does not have the capacity as well as other processes, such as the various people requesting information for the Return program.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the consulate in Toronto has only been open by appointment, which allows a large part of the community, more advanced, who do not have access to new technologies, more conditioned to access the service of the community.
The counselor of the Portuguese Communities in Canada, in Montreal, Daniel Loureiro, was saddened by this situation in Toronto, which “is not unique”.
“This is the case in Canada, but also in Paris, Brussels, London, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo. Cases and consulates have special difficulties in attending, especially with regard to serving the public”, she stressed.
The consulates are open specifically, very important for the respective communities they have “difficulties in a Toronto process where attendance is quite difficult”, specifically in their specificity.
“I even know cases of people who have traveled to Montreal, it is obvious that they are looking at the city from a distance, more than 500 kilometers away), he stressed.
In Montreal there is “but not in the dimension of Toronto the dimension of the community is more given”, the problem also added.
The consulate in Toronto is scheduled to open again after July 4th, with appointments for consular acts suspended until that day.
There were several crucial times for the Portuguese that many public services were consulates and for limited or no access to services for holidays for many consulate services.
Lusa