Thank you for the info. This helpsI went to BLS Vancouver today to submit my surrender application. I had an appointment at 10:45 AM.
After reading all your horror stories I was expecting the worst but the process was so straightforward. No one else was ahead of me, they looked at my documents and asked me to pay the fee. No fuss over photos or anything. I didn't ask for pick up anyway because I can't take too much time off during the day for it.
They said I should get everything back by the end of May