Wait…Whom Should I Ask for Help?
In early September, one of my friends in China complained to me that he couldn’t return to University of Toronto for school on time as his Canadian study permit has been delayed for months long.
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the current average processing time is 12 weeks. However, my friend has waited for 4 months and one of his buddies has waited 6 months.
Then he shared an interesting social media post with me — An international student, who has been waiting for his/her Canadian study permit for so long, sent an email to the Office of the Prime Minister. The student requested if Prime Minister Trudeau could help speed up the process. Surprisingly the Office replied that the request has been passed to IRCC and then the student’s study permit got approved within a week.
Obviously, the Prime Minister is not in charge of issuing study permits. I was amazed by the fact that the student asked the “wrong person” for help but still got the desired result. (Of course, not that the student wasn’t smart enough to email IRCC first, it was because IRCC does a poor job at responding to emails and phone calls. )
Sometimes people are not aware of who is delivering our public services.
Take Toronto for example, until last week, I didn’t know that the City of Toronto delivers many important services through Agencies, Boards, and Commissions (ABCs). The ABCs usually operates at arm’s length or independently of the municipal government.
In another word, the City of Toronto is not in charge of everything happening in the city and most people probably don’t know that.
Referring back to the study permit story, I wonder if Mayor John Tory, would receive countless complaining emails regarding issues that are not his responsibility. If the TTC on your street stopped running, sorry, the Mayor can’t help. If Toronto Hydro cut your power, sorry, the Mayor can’t help either.
I believe the public should at least have some base knowledge of how the local government works. Particularly the relationship between the ABCs and the municipal government. At the same time, the government should make effort to increase public awareness.
Because the people are the direct recipients of public services, it’s a matter that closely relates to their everyday lives. They should recognize who is providing the service and what public services are provided by the City.
People wouldn’t know where to ask for help if they weren’t aware of who is providing the services, which in turn will cause trouble for the public servants working at the local level.
