Canadian Passport Country of Origin Decisions on the Fly

"She [the passport employee] just said this without any support, no policy document. It was clear something was off."

"If I had just submitted my application, who knows what would have happened."

"It's clear discrimination."

"If there is some sort of injustice, you have to stand up, speak up."

Anastasia Zorchinsky, Israeli-Canadian 

 

"Why should people have to suffer the indignity of having to beg?"

"Jewish Canadians, shouldn't have to deal with this."
"Issues of politics shouldn't bleed into dealing with a government agency when it comes to a document for identification."

Neil Oberman, Zorchinsky lawyer 

Anastasia Zorchinsky was told in a Montreal passport office that she could not designate Israel as her birth country. Photo by Anastasia Zorchinsky/LinkedIn

 

When a Canadian passport office employee informed Anastasia Zorchinsky -- a Canadian citizen born in Israel -- that indicating Israel as her place of birth is not permissible, given that it is "a conflict zone", she was  beyond puzzled. Born in Kfar Saba located in central Israel, Canadian citizen Zorchinsky was rather taken aback, that an official would inform her that as a result of the "political conflict, we cannot put Israel in your passport". Ah, but they could stamp her passport with 'Palestine'.

 

This is what she was informed, that she had an alternative, to select her birth country as Palestine. Evidently Kfar Saba represented one of a number of cities identified by a Canadian government policy shift. That policy shift? ... That the Liberal government of Mark Carney had decided to 'recognize' the state of Palestine, as a just due, evidently for violent action in asserting their right to formal accepted sovereignty. 

 

Not that there had been an official policy change for immigration purposes. An employee had taken it upon herself to assert that interpretation. This isolationist policy affected Israel, only Israel, Ms. Zorchinsky was confidently informed. 

 

She responded by asking that the policy in support of the official's contention be provided for her scrutiny. The employee duly absented herself, soon returning with several colleagues who informed her once again that the matter had resulted from the federal government's having recognized a state of Palestine. Moreover an online list of cities were posted identifying them as relating to the policy change. 

 

Under Ms. Zorchinsky's pressing questions, however, those officials representing the passport office reversed their decision to inform her she could, after all, claim Israel as her place of birth. So all is well, after all. Or is it? Can passport officials be permitted to feel comfortable denying the legitimacy of a country in an obviously political choice reflecting a Middle East conflict between an established nation and a nascent one where territory is in dispute?

 

Ms. Korchinsky's lawyer doesn't think this kind of high-handed, faux-official decision-making can be tolerated. Anyone other that Ms. Zorchinsky who stood firmly by her rights might have meekly assented to the officious declarations by those who are unauthorized to make such official decisions. Her lawyer requested a response from the Montreal-based officials who had sparred with his client over her place of birth being legitimate.

 

Failing receipt of that requested response he planned to file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, alongside one with the federal ombudsperson, and possibly go a little further by filing a complaint to the Federal Court of Canada. The passport officials, in their decision-making on a matter much beyond their capacity, just happened to impose their views on the wrong person: Ms. Korchinsky is the founder of StartUp Nation Montreal, a student-led club at Concordia and McGill Universities. 

 

StartUp Nation's function is to organize educational events about Israel, and at the same time fostering ties between Israel and Canada.

 

A Canadian passport with approved stamp (illustrative)   (photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

  

"[No] changes have been made regarding the issuing of passports for individuals born in Israel."

"[While the department] cannot comment on specific cases due to privacy considerations, we can confirm that the city of Kfar Saba can be printed in Canadian travel documents with Israel as the country of birth."

Jeffrey MacDonald, communications advisor, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada