New Delhi: Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau criticises the policy in which Sikh personnel are facing the discrimination. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) designed a policy that mandates frontline officers wear ‘fitting’ respirators that has apparently resulted in many Sikhs in the force being assigned desk jobs as their beards prevent wearing such masks.
PM Trudeau has criticised premier law enforcement agency of the country for making such a policy in which respirator masks that appears discrimination against Sikh personnel.
“It is something that I certainly hope the RCMP rectifies quickly and it shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” PM Trudeau said.
PM Trudeau said he was very disappointed over the issue as many other police forces and other organisations have figured out ways of upholding health and safety standards without needing to create discrimination against certain individuals because of their religion.
The RCMP issued a directive regarding these masks in March and according to media report “agency noted that one of the most common causes of a breached seal is facial hair”
On this issue, the World Sikh Organisation (WSO) raised its voice and nearly 30 Sikhs officers had been re-assigned since March 31 because of this policy. Further WSO said that “it was contacted by some officers in April and they reported that they had been re-assigned to administrative duties, which many find less than meaningful,”
According to Canadian media “The RCMP has argued that it has to operate under federal regulations unlike police forces in cities like Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, where similar norms have not been implemented. It said it doesn’t have the authority to change the rules regarding personal protective equipment,”
In a statement, President of WSO – Tejinder Singh Sidhu said, “The RCMP are the only police force in Canada that refuse to accommodate bearded Sikh officers. Sikh RCMP officers have patiently waited for almost six months to be returned to active duty. However, there has been no desire on the RCMP’s part to address this situation. There is no reason that the RCMP should require a higher standard of PPE protection than any other police force in Canada or even medical frontline workers. Sikh officers continue to serve in every other police force in Canada.”
Canada’s public safety and emergency preparedness minister Bill Blair said “essential for the RCMP to provide necessary PPE in a timely manner for Sikh officers. We have raised this matter with the RCMP, and expect that this be rectified as quickly as possible,”
_Vinayak.Barot
