I keep thinking about my conversation with Amrit Kaur.
When I was studying journalism, I interviewed Kaur, a Sikh woman whose ambition to become a teacher in Quebec was derailed by the province’s secularism laws. I later revisited her story through my podcast episode, Affects of Bill 21.
What stayed with me was the fact that someone could earn their qualifications, work towards a profession and be ready to contribute to their community, only to discover that wearing their faith meant they could not pursue that career in their home province.
Kaur faced a choice between her dastaar, her Sikh turban, and her teaching career.
She chose her faith, and Quebec lost a teacher.
Now, that same debate is threatening the next generation. Quebec’s newly elected Parti Québécois government has committed to expanding its secularism laws to prohibit elementary school students from wearing visible religious symbols, including Sikh turbans, Muslim hijabs and Jewish kippahs.