Kirpan-wearing Sikhs barred from Quebec multiculturalism debate

Several Sikhs were denied entry into the Quebec legislature Tuesday amid a heated debate over multiculturalism and where to draw the line when it comes to tolerating cultural practices.

Security officials at Quebec's Assemblée nationale refused to let them in because they were wearing kirpans, small daggers worn by some religious Sikhs.

Four representatives from the World Sikh Organization of Canada had planned to attend public hearings but were told by security to leave their daggers at the door if they wanted to enter. They refused.
The provincial government reacted with cautious language to the decision. The opposition Parti Québécois, meanwhile, applauded heartily and said Canadian-style multiculturalism was unwelcome in Quebec.
The timing of the incident was symbolic.
The visitors had planned to attend legislative hearings into a bill that would set some limits on religious practices – namely, denying government services to Muslim women with covered faces.
The Sikhs said that, while their own religion forbids covering women's faces, they planned to speak out against the bill anyway, in the name of religious tolerance.
The Sikhs noted that legislatures in other provinces and in Ottawa had. unlike Quebec, allowed entry to Sikhs with kirpans – as had last year's Vancouver Olympic venues, despite heavy security at the Games.
“The national assembly has no written rules or policies regarding the kirpan, and we can't even find out who is making the decision to exclude us,” Balpreet Singh, the WSO's legal counsel, said in a statement.
“The tenets of the Sikh faith also teach us to strive for justice and equality for everyone.
“Freedom of religion may be enshrined in Canada's Charter, but that's meaningless unless we all stand up to protect the rights of religious minorities – especially when we disagree with their beliefs.”
The so-called reasonable-accommodations debate raging in Quebec has often focused on face coverings and where they should be allowed.
But the current debate arguably began years ago with controversy over a boy who wasn't allowed to wear his kirpan at school.
In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada finally ruled 8-0 that a total ban of the kirpan in schools violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it infringed on religious freedom. However, in that same 2006 decision, the court also allowed school boards to impose some restrictions in the name of public safety.
Nationalist commentators have, during Quebec's ongoing debate, taken shots at the Canadian Charter of Rights and accused it of ramming excessive political correctness down Quebeckers' throats.
The Parti Québécois has increasingly championed that theme under its new leader, Pauline Marois. On Tuesday, the party expressed little sympathy for the spurned visitors.
“They could make a little bit of an effort, frankly,” said Louise Beaudoin, who is the PQ's appointed critic for the issue of secularism.
“This is like wearing the niqab or burqa while taking a French class,” she added. That was a reference to a recent headline-grabbing incident involving a Muslim woman who, after repeatedly refusing requests to uncover her face, was subsequently expelled from her adult classes.
Beaudoin said Tuesday's incident proved that the government didn't go far enough with its Bill 94 — because it only focused on face-coverings and failed to include things like the kirpan.
The governing Liberals have been less eager to take up the issue. The party, which depends on support from various ethnic communities, only introduced the current accommodations bill after many months of political pressure.
In discussing Tuesday's incident, Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil referred cautiously to “pluralism” and “openness” as key values within Quebec society.
As for the security that barred the visitors, Ms. Weil said: “Each institution has its rules. The airports, courthouses are all dealing with these kinds of questions.”
Legislature officials say the group of Sikh visitors had informed them a day earlier of their intention to bring the kirpans and were warned they would not be allowed on the premises.
A similar situation last year resulted in a different outcome.
Last February, a group of about 20 Sikhs visiting the assembly had agreed to leave their daggers at the door. One member of the group left his larger dagger behind and continued wearing a tinier one, and was subsequently escorted around the building by ssecurity.