London: Former chairman of India's National Commission for Minorities Tarlochan Singh on Saturday urged Canada's apex Sikh body and Sikh parliamentarians to raise the issue of the ban on wearing of turbans by top government employees in Quebec.

He urged the Jathedar Akal Takht, the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Sikh MPs in Canada to follow the example of their counterparts in Britain who got similar legislation amended to protect Sikh symbols.

The law is known as Bill 21. 

This controversial law was adopted in June 2019, known as Bill 21. It prohibits judges, police officers, teachers and government officials from wearing symbols such as turbans while at work in the province of Quebec.

In February 2024, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the province's controversial secularism law in a ruling on challenges to the law's constitutionality. Singh, who is on a visit to Canada, said it was even more severe than the law in France, where Sikh students are banned from wearing turbans in government schools.

We are allowed to have long hair 

He said that he fails to understand why Sikh members of Parliament in Canada have not yet taken this up as a major discrimination against the community. He said that we are the only religious community in the world where everyone is allowed to keep long hair. I appeal to all of you to request the Chief Minister of Quebec province to revisit this matter and amend the law.