Human Rights and Canadian Sikhs

Canadian Sikhs have gone before various human rights commissions to struggle for their rights to wear their articles of faith, specifically the kirpan and dastar (turban). The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects freedom of religion and guarantees equality rights to all persons in Canada. Canadian courts have found that there is a duty to accommodate differences to the point of “undue hardship”. This is a very high standard and means that unless accommodating differences (religious, physical, etc) is essentially impossible, every step must be taken to make the required changes.