An apparent clerical error by the federal government caused a Palestinian-Canadian woman to be told mistakenly she couldn’t list “Palestine” as her place of birth on her passport — and the error has been driving the spread of misleading online posts ever since.
CBC News is identifying the woman’s granddaughter only by her first name, Blair, because she said she fears for her family’s safety. Blair said that after applying to renew her passport earlier this year, her 90-year-old grandmother received a voicemail from a Service Canada representative on Feb. 21 telling her that her new passport would have no country of birth listed.
Blair took to social media to express her dismay. She posted two TikToks on Feb. 23, which quickly went viral. In the second video, which has over four million views, she said Canadians are “not allowed to be from Palestine anymore” and accused the government of “erasing the Palestinian identity” and perpetrating “cultural genocide.”
The reaction was strong and swift on social media and various websites. Former UN special rapporteur Leilani Farha called the case an example of “anti-Palestinian racism.”
But there have been no changes to government policy or to the passport application form, Ottawa said.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said that, upon request, “Palestine” can be listed as a place of birth on Canadian passports by someone born there before May 14, 1948 — a decades-old policy the department says remains unaltered.
‘Inappropriate and traumatizing’
Blair told CBC News mistakes were made by multiple government agents in her grandmother’s case.
The voicemail informing her grandmother that no country of birth would be stated on her passport was “jarring and unexpected,” Blair said — especially since her grandmother confirmed her place of birth as “El Bassa, Palestine” while reviewing her application with an agent in person at the passport office in Kitchener, Ont., on Jan. 30.
“The agent (in the voicemail) alluded to some policy that claims that this current passport up for renewal has to match the old one,” she said.
Blair said her grandmother’s last three passports listed Palestine as her place of birth. Blair provided CBC News with photos of those old Canadian passports that showed “El Bassa, Palestine” printed as the birthplace.
After receiving the voicemail, Blair said her grandmother called Passport Canada to ask why Palestine would not be listed on her passport, even though it’s what she wrote on her application form.
It was then, her granddaughter said, that an agent suggested she could write down “Israel” instead.
“(The suggestion) is not only insensitive, but is a completely inappropriate and traumatizing suggestion to someone born in Palestine before 1948,” Blair said.
A 1947 United Nations plan proposed partitioning Palestine into two states — one Jewish, one Arab. Arab leaders adamantly rejected the plan; Jewish leaders approved it and the State of Israel’s independence was proclaimed on May 14, 1948.
As hostilities escalated, Palestinians fled to the neighbouring countries of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Some were forced out of their homes, some fled on their own out of fear and some escaped violence that had reached their cities and villages. More than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced by the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and the hostilities leading up to it, according to UN estimates.
No change to birthplace policy, department says
“Palestine” is not in the drop-down list of countries applicants can choose from when filling out a passport application form online. Canadians who were born there before May 14, 1948 can still have Palestine listed but need to choose the “Other” option and manually type in “Palestine” in the “Please Specify” field, an IRCC spokesperson told CBC News in an email on Feb. 26.
The spokesperson also said that “there have been no recent changes to the country list available in the Canadian passport application form.”
The matter of countries of birth and Canadian passports was the subject of a 2006 Federal Court case. That decision was upheld a year later by the Federal Court of Appeal.
The court decision noted that Passport Canada’s security bureau has a “special policy” with respect to Palestine, Jordan, the Gaza Strip, Israel and Jerusalem.
“If applicant was born before May 14, 1948, Palestine may be entered upon request,” says the January 2002 version of the policy, quoted by the Federal Court.
“But applicant should always be encouraged to have the place of birth entered as it is presently known. Palestine is to be used in place of, not in combination with, Jordan, Israel, Gaza Strip or Jerusalem. Palestine usually stands alone but may be entered in conjunction with a city (except Jerusalem).
“If applicant was born on or after May 14, 1948, Palestine cannot be entered as the country of birth. The country must be entered as Jordan, Israel, Gaza Strip or Jerusalem as the case may be.”
Canada isn’t the only country with this policy. A similar policy is in place to allow American citizens born prior to 1948 to list Palestine as the place of their birth, according to the U.S. State Department.
The Passport Canada policy also makes clear that the place of birth listed on a Canadian passport is “neither an official recognition by the Canadian government of any country, nor support by the Canadian government of either faction where the (place of birth) indicated is a territory the sovereignty over which has not been finally settled under international law.”
Canada recognizes the Palestinian territories as entities separate from Israel, but not as a state unto themselves. For decades, successive Liberal and Conservative governments have endorsed the eventual creation of a Palestinian country that exists in peace alongside Israel — the essence of what’s known as the two-state solution.
The National breaks down the Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution, long sold as the best hope for peace in that region and the major challenges making it so elusive.
While it is the norm to have both the city and country of birth written in a passport, Canadians have the option to name only the city or the country in their passport — and could opt not to have their place of birth listed at all.
Passport Canada policy states that those born in Jerusalem are issued passports listing only the city, because Ottawa considers the city’s status unresolved. Since July 2003, Canadian passports issued to citizens born in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan simply include the name of the city, without a country, as they may be refused entry to mainland China otherwise.
90-year-old’s new passport will say ‘Palestine’
On Feb. 26, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller took to X — apparently in response to Blair’s videos — to rebuff claims that Passport Canada had stopped allowing the use of Palestine as a place of birth.
“I’d like to correct recent claims circulating on social media related to the selection of Palestine as the country of birth on the Canadian passport,” he wrote, restating his department’s policy that those born there before 1948 can continue to ask to do so.
If an applicant was born before May 14, 1948 and requests Palestine as their country of birth, they can do so by going into the application drop down menu and clicking on the “Other field” followed by entering “Palestine”. This can also be done by hand, as always.
—@MarcMillerVM
Blair said that after Miller issued his statement, a Passport Canada agent called her grandmother, apologized and said she would be issued a new passport that would say “Palestine.”
“She has been in Canada for 50 years and this has never been an issue. She wasn’t asking for any kind of change. She was just asking for it to read the exact same as the last passport did,” Blair said.
