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Quebec Sikh boy's case focusses on
kirpan judgment
WSN Bureau
 MONTREAL: Even
as a Montreal civil rights lawyer claimed that sections of Quebec
society never accepted the Supreme Court's decision to allow Sikh
students to wear kirpan to class, Lawyer Julius Grey said city
police and the teen's school board are "overreacting" to a Sept. 11
incident in which his client, a 13-year-old boy kirpan-sporting boy
is being accused of threatening schoolmates.
"I think that
what we're witnessing - it's my opinion, and the court will decide -
is a deep bias against the kirpan, which has never died in Quebec,"
said lawyer Julius Grey, who also represented a Sikh youth in a 2001
case that eventually reached the country's top court.
In 2006, the
Supreme Court upheld a Quebec Superior Court ruling that said Sikhs
were allowed to wear the kirpan at school.
"We have
independent witnesses, and I'm very confident that we will be able
to show that we represent the real victim. It will be for a judge to
decide in any event. But even if that were not the case, a rude
exchange between boys in a schoolyard is not something that normally
ends up (in court)."
The issue of
whether young Sikhs should be allowed to wear the blunt kirpans, an
inherent part of their religion. to school has sparked fiery debate
in Quebec
and took centre stage during last year's provincial hearings into
what constitutes reasonable accommodation of ethnic groups in
Quebec.
When the
Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodation tabled its
report in May, it said the Supreme Court's 2006 decision had
"contaminated" the kirpan debate and "discredited the courts."
The teenager,
who has asked that his case go straight to trial, made his first
appearance on the charges in Montreal Youth Court last Thursday. He
pleaded not guilty to three counts alleging he used the kirpan to
threaten his schoolmates near a high school.
According to the
Montreal
police, the kirpan was wrapped in cloth during the incident.
Grey said he has
written the school board warning of possible civil action. He also
criticized the board for not considering his client's version of
what happened.
1 October 2008
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