TORONTO: At a crowded press conference, Commissioner Cathe Frazee of the Ontario Human Rights Commission in Toronto, permitted kirpans in all the schools rine of Peel Board of Education. “Religious freedom is one of our fundamental rights and is clearly protected by the Human Rights code, “she said.

It was a landmark decision for Mr. Harbhajan Singh Pandoni, a teacher at the Peel Central Secondary School, who was fired by the Peel Board of Education for wearing his kirpan in the school and teaching, in 1988.

The case is a clear victory for him and the Sikhs of Canada whose rights and freedoms were upheld in a major Canadian court of law. Mr. Pandori was discriminated by the Peel Board on the basis of creed, which is against and ‘opposite to the Ontario and Canadian human rights code. It was found that the peel’s School Board had contrived the code and was ordered by Dr. Gunther Plaut, chairman of the specially constituted board of inquiry, to change its sacking of Pandori.

He never desired for any monetary compensation from the Peel Board of Education for his struggle. Mr. Pandon, an M.A. in Economics, is also the president of the Ontario Khalsa Darbar. He was well supported by almost all the Sikhs across the country who expressed their satisfaction over the ruling and the decision.

In a way, it was a second, quick victory for the Sikhs in Canada. Only in this year, the Prime Minister Brian Mulroney allowed the turbans to be worn in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is country’s top police force.

And today’s victory in Pando i’s case is another shining example of unique justice in Canada. The mainstream Canadians, especially in the Peel Board of Education, should not feel disgraced by the decision; if they had used a little common sense in the beginning, and not fired Pandori for wearing his kirpan, the whole matter had remained trivial. The Board even overlooked the decision of Chief Robert Lunny of the Peel Regional Police who allowed the kirpans to be whom by the Sikh police officers and their civilian employees.

It is time to learn from the federal consciousness in Canada which is in favour of the Sikhs here.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 20, 1990