Balpreet Singh: City of Toronto Discriminatory No-Beards Rule Forces Out Sikh Security Guards
The City of Toronto has recently instituted a “clean shave” requirement for all security guards on city sites resulting in the exclusion of Sikh security guards
Balpreet Singh
July 4, 2022 | 2 min. read | Original Reporting
The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) has called for the immediate reinstatement of over 100 Sikh security guards at City of Toronto sites who have been removed due to their religiously required facial hair.
The City of Toronto has recently instituted a “clean shave” requirement for all security guards on city sites resulting in the exclusion of Sikh security guards who maintain uncut hair as a tenet of their faith. Over 100 Sikh security guards have been removed from their jobs as a result.
The new City of Toronto mandate requires all security guards to be fitted for N95 respirators that seal directly on the face. Facial hair is not permitted when performing fit tests.
Notably, these Sikh security guards served through the height of the COVID pandemic wearing medical masks and were not required to be clean shaven.
“It is completely unreasonable that Sikh security guards who served in their positions at the City of Toronto through the height of the pandemic are now being terminated, reassigned, or demoted for not being clean-shaven,” WSO president Tejinder Singh shared.
The new clean shave rules have been introduced at a time when visitors to City sites are no longer required to be masked. The clean-shave requirement is also not being enforced for staff and workers at city sites.
“Sikh police officers and other frontline care workers have served throughout the pandemic without being required to compromise their faith. There is no reason why Sikh security guards at the City of Toronto cannot be accommodated in accordance with the law,” Singh explains.
In response to the new rule, City of Toronto security contractors such as GardaWorld, Star Security and ASP Security have removed Sikh security guards from City of Toronto sites. Some Sikh guards have been laid off while others have been sent to alternative sites. Such relocations often come with a demotion in both rank and salary. In many instances, individuals who had been hired as supervisors or managers have been demoted to security guards.
In a similar situation, bearded Sikh RCMP officers were removed from frontline policing duties in March 2020 as the RCMP required that all officers be fitted with N95 masks. The officers were allowed to return to duty in October 2020 after advocacy by the WSO.
The WSO had written to Mayor John Tory and all members of Toronto City Council on June 7, 2022 asking for an urgent resolution to the current situation. No substantive reply has been received to that correspondence, the WSO states.
“It is unacceptable that the City of Toronto is unwilling to accommodate over 100 dedicated Sikh security guards who are committed to doing their jobs,” Singh explains.
Balpreet Singh hails from Toronto, Canada, and is the spokesperson and legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization of Canada.
Baaz is home to opinions, ideas, and original reporting for the Sikh and Punjabi diaspora. Support us by subscribing. Find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @BaazNewsOrg. If you would like to submit a written piece for consideration please email us at editor@baaznews.org.
The dubious role of Hindutva / other hate groups should also be investigated in having such obviously very targeted ‘rules’ being tabled in the 1st place. HSS and similar deplorable hate groups have been increasingly manipulating their ways into government organizations at all levels in North America and Europe (Priti Patel / UK Secretary of State is a known Modi bhakt and a fake news hate spewing bigot).