Canadian woman threatens to rip off Sikh youth’s turban

Monday, 22/01/2018

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OTTAWA: A Sikh man was asked to remove his turban by a woman in a Canadian club who threatened to “rip” off the head covering and heckled him with racist remarks, according to a media report.

Jaswinder Singh Dhaliwal was playing pool with friends at the Royal Canadian Legion, a Canadian ex-service organisation that includes people who have served in military, when the management approached the group and asked him to remove his patka as it was its policy to remove any headgear out of respect for the veterans, CBC News reported. OTTAWA: A Sikh man was asked to remove his turban by a woman in a Canadian club who threatened to “rip” off the head covering and heckled him with racist remarks, according to a media report.

Jaswinder Singh Dhaliwal was playing pool with friends at the Royal Canadian Legion, a Canadian ex-service organisation that includes people who have served in military, when the management approached the group and asked him to remove his “patka” as it was its policy to remove any headgear out of respect for the veterans, CBC News reported.

However, religious garments are exempted from the legion’s policy banning head coverings.

The incident took place on Wednesday at Tignish town in Canada’s Prince Edward Island. A video of the incident shows a woman threatening to “rip” off the head covering in response to being filmed and a patron at the bar making an obscene gesture while saying the garment must be removed because “it is the law”.

“I was like no man, it’s my religion, and in my religion, I always cover my hair,” Singh said.

“And I can’t do that,” CBC News quoted Singh as saying. He further added: “They told us you have to remove your turban, because this is our rules.”

His friend Sunny Pannu, who was also subjected to racial remarks, told CBC News: “We said, Ok. We remove our winter hats because we respect your rules, but you should understand our thing also. They said no, it’s not about your religion, you have to follow our rules.”

However, the management later realised the grave mistake and the president of Legion Club Stephen Gallant apologised on behalf of the members.

He further clarified that there was a confusion regarding the headdress and whether the turban was a religious garment or not.

Apparently, soon after the incident, the members of the club also had a discussion in order to clarify the policies regarding religious garments.

The Canadian woman, however, claimed that when she first asked the Sikh man to remove the turban, she thought it was just a normal headgear.