Canada: Over 100 Sikhs lose their jobs in Toronto because of ‘no beard’ mandate

Over 100 Sikh security guards have been laid off, demoted or relocated since April for keeping long beard. These people were previously stationed at City of Toronto properties.

GardaWorld, Star Security, and ASP Security have allegedly laid off many Sikhs or sent them to different work sites.

The World Sikh Organisation of Canada (WSO) has called on the city to fix the problem. The group issued a call to action on Monday.


The organisation has called upon Mayor John Tory and City Council to lift the new clean shave requirement, specifically for Sikh employees who have to maintain their beard as part of their faith.

WSO President Tejinder Singh Sindhu is of the opinion that it is completely unreasonable that Sikh security guards who served in their positions at the City of Toronto through the height of the pandemic are now being terminated, reassigned, or demoted for not being clean-shaven.

In view of Covid, security guards working at city shelters and respite sites are required to wear tight-fitting N95 masks if they are clean-shaven. As a result of the city's inspections of work sites, security contractors with employees who are not clean-shaven were deducted billable hours.

Also on Tuesday, Mayor Tory said he would like the contractors involved to apologise.

The Mayor is reportedly of the opinion that the workers deserve better than that. There are chances that he will be re-instating all the Sikh guards to their same positions at the same pay rate.