Thirty years ago, a young Canadian was accepted by Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a cadet. But he walked away from the offer.
Baltej Dhillon was a Sikh, which requires male adherents not to shave or cut their hair. RCMP uniform requirements were that all male Mounties had to shave and cut their hair. No turbans allowed. Mr Dhillon couldn’t accept that without compromising his personal religious beliefs, so he turned down the offer to be a cadet at RCMP Depot in Regina.
But then something happened. The story got picked up. A national debate ensued about the role of religion in public life. Some nasty things were said, but others recognised that Canadians are no longer just white Brits with a side of French-Canadians. People mentioned the Charter of Rights, the ink not yet dry, while others talked of the need to maintain the traditions of the Mounties, red serge and Stetson.
The Commissioner of the RCMP ordered a uniform review, which came back recommending changes to allow Sikhs to serve.
The federal government accepted the recommendations.
RCMP Depot re-issued the cadet invitation to Mr Dhillon.
And in 1990, he passed out of Depot and was sworn in as a Mountie.
He’s now retiring, having given 29 years of service, with the rank of Inspector.
On his retirement, he admits to having some bitterness at his initial experience with the Mounties, and the hostility it provoked. He described it as having “a tiff with the nation”. But he persevered.
Well done, Sir. Thank you for your service. And thank you for making us take a good look at ourselves and adapt to changing times.
I remember when that happened. There was some opposition at the time, but as 29 years of good service prove, what an officer wears on his head ultimately didn’t matter. Thank you for your service, Inspector Dhillon!
Good for Canada, and Mr. Dhillon. For the Sikh religion, the Turban (headgear) and the Kirpan (a small dagger) are articles integral to the faith. Kirpans have always been allowed through airport security in India, and now many countries including Canada allow it as well. Great to see that foreign faiths are so welcome in Canada.
It took a series of quite bitter arguments about bus drivers’ uniforms in the UK to achieve the same sort of result. It seems strange now that adapting uniforms to people would have been such an issue (though it’s still quite recent that some women had to fight a legal battle against employers’ requirements to wear make-up and high heels).
… and panty hose. Don’t forget the $&@#! panty hose requirements.
On topic, I was happy to read about this, so thank you O.P. for sharing. Sikhism gets relatively little press - but in my limited exposure, it’s always good. I’ve literally never read or heard of any Sikh being an asshole. Seems to be a tenet of their religion. “Thou shalt not act like an obnoxious douchnozzle.”
You can except Quebec from all those huzzahs. Not only can’t a Sikh man be a police officer, he also cannot be a teacher anywhere in Quebec and his Muslim head-scarf wearing wife cannot work in any public day-care centre. Nor can they work in the public service. These restrictions apply also to a man wearing a yarmulke. This is all new under a bill passed this spring that is approved by a majority of Quebecois. I am an atheist, but I find these restrictions on religious freedom intolerable.
It’s not just Quebec. There’s people of that attitude across the country. I have a coworker who’s adamantly opposed to any sort of accommodations of this sort. “They came to our country; they should speak our language and wear our type of clothes.” Somehow she never finds it amusing when I point out that by her own argument she should be speaking Cree and wearing deerskins. That’s assuming, of course, that I get a word in edgewise before the rant turns to how unfair it is that her husband has to wear a motorcycle helmet and Sikh’s don’t. In that case, I point out that he too can avoid wearing a motorcycle helmet by converting to Sikhism. After a decade or so, I still haven’t made so much as a dent.
So, how well does she get along in French, Inuktitut, and Inuinnaqtun, all of which are official languages (Yes, I know that only English and French are nationwide official)?
July 18, 2019; Samantha Bee asks Senator and former military helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth about changes since she was in the service. Duckworth: uniforms!
The issue is going to court, but Canada has a sham bill of rights that allows a provincial or national parliament to override any provision by saying that this is “notwithstanding” and provision of the charter of rights. This does inflict a 5 year sunset clause on such legislation but it can be invoked again. Incidentally, this legislation is not popular in Montreal, but immensely so in the hicks.
One thing you have to realize. There is a difference between gratuitous display of your religion (wearing a cross for example) and a dress code that is (or you perceive is) a necessary part of your religious practice.