The Canadian government removed Palestine from passports

Question

When you try to renew a license in Canada, Palestine is not an option as a country of birth. People are no longer allowed to be from Palestine in Canada.

Answer 1

Upon further investigation of this claim, it appears to be exaggerated and lacks the necessary information to prove/disprove the claim. Palestinian people are still allowed in Canada. The notion that they are no longer allowed to be from Palestine in Canada is difficult to prove. The specific details regarding the options for the country of birth in the driver's license renewal process in Canada, (or whether "Palestine" is included as an option), were not directly found in the available online resources from the Canadian government's websites or provincial services like Service NL. These sites primarily provide information on the process of renewing a driver's license, including general requirements and steps to follow, but do not detail the list of countries available for selection in application forms. Due to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Canada has created temporary measures to support and aid those with family members abroad attempting to flee and take haven in Canada. Overall, there is not enough available information to prove/disprove this claim accurately.

Sources:

https://www.gov.nl.ca/dgsnl/driversandvehicles/renewal/

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/israel-west-bank-gaza-2023/canada-tr-measures.html

https://www.immigration.ca/how-many-palestinians-will-come-to-canada-under-temporary-pathway/#:~:text=Palestinians%20in%20Gaza%20who%20have,9.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/israel-palestinian-territories-2023/ifhp.html

Comments

This fact check was well executed. There are plenty of sources cited to show your research on whether or not Palestine-born people can renew a license in Canada. Though there is no defined answer it is evident you tried to look upstream past the Instagram post to verify their claim.

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I really like this fact check! Not only does it do a good job with its sources, but its clear and concisely in one paragraph. I find that a lot of fact-checks might be lost because of how long they might be, and while I think its good to use the full extent of your knowledge and sources, keeping it short and sweet is more effective for readers to see. Well done using links from Canada immigration and their government!

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You did a great job in providing multiple reliable and credible sources to back up your factcheck. You explained why the original claim is exaggerated or misleading by going into depth. Using a government website was a great choice. This is a very well thought out factcheck.

Answer 2

I do not think that the claim can be confirmed or denied. The video is originally a Tik Tok posted as a comment reply to this user's Instagram. The claim is that as of right now, you may not declare yourself from Palestine should you be living in Canada. The creator is upset that an entire country and the identity is being wiped.

The video seems really convincing and I think it is accurate, but there are a few things to unpack.

https://palestinegd.ca/driver-license

According to this website: There is a system in place to use and renew a Palestinian license with no specific restrictions that it lists.

https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?doc=458729&wbdisable=true

To this source, what I can gather is that Canada doesn't recognize Palestine as a state until Israel does. I am not sure to what political reasoning there is behind this if there is any, but I am not sure it has to deal with the conflict directly.

https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/international_relations-relations_internationales/mena-moan/israeli-palestinian_policy-politique_israelo-palestinien.aspx?lang=eng

This source shows they have support and recognition of both sides, and I cant quite understand if it has any side in the taking away from Palestine as a state.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/12/2/israel-palestine-and-canadas-schizophrenic-foreign-policy

Lastly this source explains that Canada hopes to tread a middle ground tot the conflict, which really tells me that the drivers license issue doesn't have any stake in being a statement but rather just a recognition policy. I find it hard to believe the outward opinion of their government would intentionally misalign with their own Driver's License/ Identification program.

This is a very heated topic so a lot of sources covered the main issue, but not all credible ones, and also not this specific topic regarding the drop down menu, it also seems like it may contain a lot of author speculation.

As to people not being from Palestine in Canada:

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2023/12/immigration-measures-to-help-people-affected-by-the-israelhamas-conflict.html

They recognize the conflict and this seems to say that there are options to migrate from people affected by the conflict, but there is a visa limit and a certain amount of relation necessary to be allowed into Canada.

Overall if anyone can find anything directly from the Driver's License menu issue please comment the way to find out.

Comments

I really like this fact check! I appreciate how many good sources you provided to us and they all back up your claims. I liked how you didn't necessarily agree or disagree since it is unknown if this is true or false. I thought you explained the situation quite well  and gave us some great context to this.

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I like that you took the time to take apart each separate part of the claim made in the video but still deduced that it is hard to pinpoint exactly whether the claim is true or false.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this fact-check because there was a link to a resource for every retort to the claim. It proves a strong argument, and it is very easy to see that you did your research.

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This fact-check suggests that while Canada's policy on recognizing Palestine might influence some rules, like what you can say on your driver's license, it's not about denying Palestinian identity. Instead, it's tied to the complex politics between countries. The fact-check does a good job of explaining the situation without making it too simple or ignoring the important details. It shows the issue is about politics and policies, not about Canada wanting to erase Palestinian identity.

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Love your fact check. I really appreciate the amount of sources that you insert in your research, as they are vital tools in proving to readers the exaggeration of this claim.

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This is a great fact check! I like that you provided many sources and a breakdown of what each one discusses. Since there isn't really a clear answer out there, people are probably going to form their own opinions. But you are giving them the tools to do so by consolidating sources and keeping people as informed as possible.

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I like your fact check, but you can only assume that they may be allowed to put Palestine on their driver's license. The fact that Canada doesn't recognize Palestine until Israel does means Canada doesn't recognize Israel. Therefore I am interested if there is any specific cases where people tried tried to put Palestine as their country of Origin on a Canadian Drivers License.That would prove whether this is true or not.

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Given the closing of your fact-check --Overall if anyone can find anything directly from the Driver's License menu issue please comment the way to find out. -- wouldn't your fact-check be rated "not enough information"?

Answer 3

It is unclear whether this is true or false. 

TikTok user @/madamebudgysmuggler, posted a video on February 23rd saying that her grandmother, born in Al-Bassa, Palestine, received a voicemail from the Canadian passport services when she was renewing her passport. In the voicemail, this employee says that when she receives her new passport it will say her place of birth will just read as Al-Bassa with no country of birth. In a second video, she shows her grandmother's current Canadian passport with her birthplace as "El Bassa Palestine." She also shows a clip on the Canadian passport website where Palestine does not come up as an option on the dropdown menu.

So far, there have been no updates from this TikTok user. There has also been no comment made by any Canadian government official stating whether this is true or not. I could also not find any other evidence of this happening to other individuals in Canada.

Comments

This is a good update, though it doesn't really fact-check the claims of the misinformation. I would recommend finding the the main sources of information where such information could be found, such as the Canadian state department.