Sikh group barred from legislature over kirpans!

Here in Canada we go out of our way to accommodate minority groups......., but some people still insist on biting the hand that feeds them!

Hearings into the accommodation of minority groups were disrupted this week when security agents refused to accommodate four Sikh officials who refused to turn in their ceremonial dagger, known as the kirpan. (I'm still pissed about letting them wear turbans instead of the regulation Mountie hat!)

The representatives of the World Sikh Organization of Canada were denied access to the Quebec legislature for a scheduled presentation before a committee examining Bill 94.

The draft legislation sets out rules for accommodating minority groups in government.

Much of the attention has centred around a proposed government ban on serving or hiring women who insist on wearing Islamic face coverings.

But there has also been tension in the past over the kirpan.

(See! Everyone wants to do their own thing, and get special treatment!)

A Montreal school board’s decision to ban the kirpan on school grounds made it all the way to the Supreme Court in 2006. The high court ruled unanimously that schools have the right to impose conditions on students wearing the Sikh religious symbol but that a blanket ban on the daggers infringes fundamental religious freedom.

(NOTE; It is not necessary to carry a Kirpan since a symbolic kirpans is attached to combs that Sikhs keep in their hair. Similarly, small kirpan-shaped pendants are worn around the neck, again fulfilling the criterion of the faith that the dagger be ever-present -Ed.)

The World Sikh Organization of Canada noted that such bans aren't in place on Parliament Hill or at the Supreme Court and they had hoped for a compromise at the Quebec legislature. But they were warned that their kirpans could be confiscated at the door under rules that bar knives.

Singh Boparai Balpreet, legal counsel for the group, said the kirpans aren't a threat.

“Our kirpans are worn under our clothes and are locked securely,” he said.

Quebec Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil defended the decision to confiscate the kirpans.

“I'm neutral on it," she said. “I note the decision. We must respect the independence of institutions.”

(Weil was quick to add that Quebec is an open society, but as we say here at Perspective, that doesn't give you the right to do what-ever the hell you want!)