US issues apology after Canadian minister told to take off turban at airport
US issues apology after Canadian minister told to take off turban at airport
Officials from the Trump administration issued an apology after a Canadian cabinet minister was repeatedly asked to remove his turban by a security agent.
Navdeep Bains, the country’s minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, described the incident in an interview with the French-language paper La Presse on Thursday.
The incident took place when Bains was returning to Toronto after meetings with Michigan state leaders in April 2017 and had already passed through regular security checks, but because he was wearing a turban, a security agent told him that he would have to undergo additional checking.
“He told me to take off my turban. I asked him why I would have to take off my turban when the metal detector had worked properly,” the minister said. The US amended its travel policy in 2007, allowing Sikhs to keep turbans on while passing during the security inspection process.
“It was an uncomfortable experience,” said Bains.
“I believed that it was an intrusion into my private life … They would never ask me to take off my clothes,” he said.
“He told me: ‘You have to take off your turban.’ I responded politely that it was not a security threat and that I had passed all the security controls. Then he asked for my name and identification. I reluctantly gave him my diplomatic passport.”
“I was speechless … I was at the point of boarding and they asked me to take off my turban. But upon learning of my diplomatic status, they told me that everything is fine. That’s not a satisfactory response.”
“Unfortunately these types of incidents do occur from time to time to minorities in particular. But it should never become the norm,” Bains said in a statement. “I will continue to promote diversity and inclusion across the country as our government has done since we took office. It is exactly why I ran for office.”
-PTC News
