TikTok videos claim Canada erased Palestine from passports — but Ottawa says rules unchanged

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