The federal government has added new Passport Service locations across Canada amid ongoing processing delays.

Social Development Minister Karina Gould announced on Wednesday that people can now apply for and receive passports at Service Canada centres in Red Deer, Alta., Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Trois-Rivières, Que., and Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Nearly 1.1 million applications for new and renewed passports have been submitted since April as pandemic restrictions eased and travel resumed for Canadians.

More than a quarter of these had not yet been processed as of early this month. Government statistics show the system has started to catch up with demand, as the gap between the number of passport applications each month versus the number of passports issued is shrinking.

But there remains a large backlog. In the first week of August, the number of passports issued within 40 business days of application fell to 72 percent from 81 percent the previous week.

These numbers are no better than preliminary figures from late June, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to respond to mounting complaints and described the system’s performance as "unacceptable."

In the week starting June 20, the passport issuance rate within 40 business days was 76 percent.

Wait times at the call centre dropped significantly in the interim, and "triage procedures" were implemented at 17 passport offices to ease pressure.

However, delays remain as visits at most offices are limited and many Canadians are waiting weeks or months before they can get an appointment.

Urgent services are available for people who can prove they need a passport within 48 hours only at the larger urban centres – Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Gatineau and Quebec City.

Proof of upcoming travel is also required to receive service within two months at offices with 10-day processing times, including those announced on Wednesday.

As the backlash over wait times continues, some reports suggest Canadians are making "fake" travel plans to show to passport officers, then cancelling their trips once their applications are in the queue.

Passports from in-person applications are issued within a 10-day period 95 percent of the time, a standard that has remained steady throughout the summer.

Gould said the government failed to anticipate how sharply demand would rise earlier this year and was unprepared for the flood of mail-in applications.

For mail-in passport applications, a current government website expects a wait of 13 weeks, plus mail time.

Since the end of July, people who have waited more than 20 business days for a mailed application and who are travelling within the next 20 business days can visit Service Canada offices to request a conversion, increasing the likelihood their applications will be processed before they need to leave.

In response to demand, Service Canada added five new passport service locations in late July: Brampton and Whitby in Ontario, Pointe-Claire in Quebec, Calgary Sundance in Alberta and Richmond in British Columbia.

The agency also boosted staffing levels, reporting 1,936 employees in the passport workforce in early August, up from 1,785 the previous month.

Gould said she is working to bring passport services to nine or 10 additional offices and hopes to issue more announcements soon.