What to know
- A Sikh man says he was asked to leave a GoodLife Fitness gym in Windsor for wearing a kirpan, with video of the incident going viral.
- Lawyer Gurratan Singh says a 2006 Supreme Court of Canada ruling protects Sikhs’ right to wear the ceremonial dagger under the Charter.
- Singh argues businesses have a duty to accommodate religious articles under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
- GoodLife Fitness says the interaction shown in the video did not reflect how its policies are intended to be applied and that it complies with Canadian human rights laws.
Canadian lawyer Gurratan Singh, the brother of former federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, is defending a Sikh man’s right to wear a kirpan in public after the man was asked to leave a GoodLife Fitness gym in Windsor for wearing the religious article.
The incident, which was captured on video and shared on social media, has since gone viral.
Singh says Supreme Court ruling settled the issue
In a video posted online, Singh said the man had every right to wear his kirpan, a ceremonial dagger carried by initiated Sikhs, as the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2006 that banning Sikhs from wearing the kirpan infringes on their Charter-protected freedom of religion.
Singh explained that the landmark case centred on a student’s right to wear a kirpan at school, where the school’s safety concerns were ultimately rejected by the court.
The Supreme Court found that schools already contain numerous everyday objects that could be used to cause harm, including scissors, pencils and baseball bats.
“Now that logic applies even more at a gym, where people, including really strong people, have access to cable bars, free weights, plate weights and much more,” Singh said. “All of which can do serious damage.”
He emphasized that the right of Sikhs to wear a kirpan in Canada “is not up for debate.”
Singh also noted that, under the Ontario Human Rights Code, businesses such as GoodLife Fitness have a duty to accommodate religious articles of faith, including the kirpan.
“That’s the reasonable accommodation that GoodLife owes everyone who attends their gym,” he said.
GoodLife says incident did not reflect company policy
Following widespread backlash over the incident, GoodLife Fitness said in a statement to Now Toronto that the interaction shown in the viral video did not reflect how its policies are intended to be applied.
The company added that it complies with all applicable legislation, including Canadian human rights laws.
“This isn’t about feelings. It’s about facts, and the facts are clear. The right to wear a kirpan is settled law,” Singh said. “And to anyone jumping on the bandwagon right now against a kirpan, you’re feeding a narrative that wants to strip away a right that we already fought for and won.”
