Trans woman denied entry into Canada

Domaine Javier says the first officer at Vancouver International Airport gave her a “weirded look” after checking her passport.

“The picture in my passport is me, but it doesn’t look like me anymore,” Javier explains, noting that the passport still describes her as male. But, she says, the officer didn’t overtly ask any questions about her gender identity.

Javier told the officer that she was taking a break from work and had come to Vancouver on vacation after a friend bought her a plane ticket and that she would do casting calls for a show while here.

Javier says the officer wrote a number on a card and told her to “go ahead.” Another officer checked the card and directed her to a room where people were having their luggage checked. A third officer then asked to see her passport and boarding pass.

“They checked my stuff, and then they borrowed my ID, and then she was like, ‘Oh, you’re a transgender?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, no problem, we see these people a lot of times. We deal with them all the time in here.’”

Javier says the officer then took her passport, boarding pass, online ticket and cellphone.

A half-hour later the officer returned and again questioned Javier, who says she repeated her reasons for coming to Vancouver. Then the officer questioned her about three bottles of medication in her purse, one of which was unlabelled and contained Vicodin, Javier says.

“They were like, ‘You’re trying to smuggle controlled drugs into the country,’” Javier says.

At that point, another officer passing by saw the bottles, came into the room and began questioning her in a “rude and disrespectful” manner, she alleges.