
PAPER CHASE NEWSBURST |  
|
Serious law. Primary sources. Global perspective. |
|
|

 |

|
Thursday, March 02, 2006 |

Canada high court overturns school board ban on Sikh daggers
James M Yoch Jr at 1:25 PM ET

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] on Thursday unanimously overturned [decision text] a Quebec school board's ban on carrying Sikh ceremonial daggers at school, ruling that it infringed students' religious freedom under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text]. Gurbaj Singh, 17, challenged the ban [CHRC factum] after a school prohibited him from carrying the dagger when it accidentally fell from his clothing in 2001. Sikhism [Wikipedia backgrounder] requires that Sikh males wear the ceremonial dagger, known as a kirpan [Wikipedia backgrounder], at all times, but they are forbidden to use it as a weapon. CBC News has more.
The Canadian ruling comes in the context of international tension over the wearing of religious dress [JURIST news archive] in schools. Sikh turbans have been at the center of several disputes; a US-based Sikh group announced in January that it will use EU anti-discrimination law to challenge a new French law [JURIST report] banning religious dress, including Sikh turbans, in state academies.


Link |
|
|
print |
subscribe |
|
latest newscast |
Facebook page

| For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often... |
|
|

ABOUT | |
|
 | 
Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.
|
|
|