The World Sikh Organization (WSO) is calling on the city of Toronto to change what it calls a “discriminatory” rule included in its contracts that requires all security guards to be well-shaven.
The organization said Monday it wants to see the city compensate and reinstate the roughly 100 bearded Sikh guards who lost their jobs as a result.
The WSO said the city has since January forced security guards, who work for contractors such as GardaWorld, ASP Security and Star World, to wear N95 masks while working in crowded environments such as respite centers.
The city confirmed that employees and contractors working with its Department of Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) must wear an N95 mask and must be well-shaven for the masks to provide effective protection against transmission. of COVID-19. However, the city said the WSO’s complaint stems from the fact that private contractors do not accommodate their own employees.
Sikh security guards have been fighting the rule.
“I feel very humiliated,” said Birkawal Singh Anand, who works for ASP Security.
Anand says he applied for religious accommodation when he was notified of the requirement last month, but was told that this would also mean being relegated to a lower position with the company with a lower salary. He said he had to choose between that, find a different job, say goodbye or shave his beard.
CBC News has contacted ASP Security and other companies with questions about how they are implementing city policy.
For Sikh devotees, leaving their hair uncut is an important principle of their faith, the WSO said.
Balpreet Singh, the organization’s attorney, said the Toronto rule feels especially discriminatory because this policy is being introduced while almost all other pandemic restrictions have been removed in Ontario, including most mask warrants.
“These security guards served at the height of the pandemic without these rules, when things were at their worst,” Singh said.
“But now when, you know, vaccines are very common and things open up, you’re told, ‘No, you can’t serve here because you have a beard.'”
Singh says he has repeatedly contacted the city and council members. He said he sent an official letter to the city on June 7 to “work with its security contractors to find a solution.”
The City Council says it is reviewing the situation
Toronto City Council said in an email statement that it is aware of the WSO complaint and said all affected workers are employed by contractors and not by their own corporate security division.
The city said SSHA’s policy allows for accommodation for city employees, but employees of contractors seeking accommodation should have their applications evaluated “in accordance with the contractors’ own human rights policies.”
Singh, of the WSO, said his organization has tried to work with contractors and contact the city in recent months to offer alternative options for keeping Sikh guards at work and keeping them healthy, but those efforts have been found with “nothing but banalities.”
Singh said his organization will consider legal action if there is no change.
“This is clearly a violation of human rights protections in Ontario,” he said.