OTTAWA: A provincial force on policing and race relations was told to amend the police act and allow Sikhs to wear turbans and Kirpans as a part of police uniforms the Ottawa police reported on February 16.
The panel was told that police was not searching hard enough for recruiting visible minorities. There are three officers from the visible minorities according to Supt Dan Lyon.
The panel was set up in December following the fatal shooting of a black Toronto teenager Michael Wade Lawson. T. Sher Singh a member of the pane! Said I can’t see why you can’t go out into a country of 26 million people and find no more than three people.
Gurcharan Singh president of the federation of Sikh societies of Canada told the panel to change the police act, Until then not one member of the Sikh community will join a Canadian police force, said Singh.
Singh said Sikhs are “harassed and threatened” by all police and the community has been alienated.
The federation represents 200,000 Sikhs from 43 member organizations across Canada. There are about 60,000 Sikhs in Ontario.
Many would consider becoming police officers if Ontario’s Police Act allowed them to wear the emblems of their faith, said Singh. They would see such an amendment as a step towards better relations between the two groups.
Sikhs perceive police to be a “brotherhood” that is “not in spirit willing to accept one that is not their own,” he told Ontario’s Race Relations and Policing Task Force.
The Sikh community has had no written guarantees from Ottawa police that they could wear the symbols of their faith and until then they are not willing to apply for jobs in the force, said Singh.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 24, 1989
