Canadian Sikh body questions RCMP for removing bearded Sikh policemen from frontline duties

AMRITSAR: A section of Sikhs in

Canada

have questioned

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

(RCMP) for allegedly removing bearded Sikh policemen from frontline policing duties and placing them on desk duties.

Balpreet Singh

, legal counsel, World Sikh Organisation of Canada (WSOC), informed TOI on Friday that the officers "have been removed from frontline policing duties" since March 31 2020 due to their religiously mandated facial hair.

"The affected officers have been placed on desk duty for almost six months as the RCMP says that the N100 mask does not seal with facial hair."

He claimed that wearing the mask was not mandatory and was left to

front line officers

’ discretion and only necessary after an assessment of risk factors.

President of the Canadian Sikh body Tejinder Singh Sidhu said that RCMP were the only police force in Canada that refused to accommodate the bearded Sikh officers. Stating that the taking Sikh officers off the front lines was inappropriate and constitutes discrimination, Tejinder said they had tried for months to assist the affected RCMP officers and advocate on their behalf but with no success and no response from the federal government. “The discrimination against bearded Sikh officers must end immediately” he added.

Balpreet informed that they had also written to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki in early June requesting their intervention to resolve the situation.

“We have also written to Public Services & Procurement Minister Anita Anand and Innovation, Science and Technology Minister

Navdeep Bains

requesting their assistance in resolving the situation but no response was received from the ministers’ offices” he said.

He said

Gail Johnson

, Chief Human Resources Officer for the RCMP, in response to their communication , confirmed that bearded Sikh officers remained on desk duty and that the RCMP “value the dedication and commitment that Sikh members have for our organization and regret that members find the duties they have been temporarily assign to in the wake of COVID-19 unfulfilling”.