|
Sohal and Sahota, who have been working in the province's forestry industry for more than 20 years, said they have always worn their turbans at Interfor's Acorn Mill in North Delta, B.C., and they haven't been injured.
"We worked with our turbans on in the past and we want to work the same way," Sahota said.
"I had no compensation claim [and] no sickness claim [made] with the company since 1988," Sohal said.
They said they haven't worked since November, when their employer brought in a hard-hat-only policy aimed at lowering injury rates in the workplace. Interfor requires the two men to wear hard hats over their turbans.
Many Sikh men follow a religious requirement that they wear turbans with nothing over them.
Both men hired a lawyer and after attempts at negotiations failed, they filed a human rights complaint on March 9.
"This is pretty devastating when they give you the news that you cannot come across the yard without a hard hat. So when you are in the industry for so long and nobody ever questioned that thing before and all of a sudden they drop a bombshell, imagine how you can feel," he said Monday.
"This turban is pretty sacred to us."
Sahota, who began work at the mill in 2004, and Sohal, who has worked there since 1988, are receiving the support of Sikh groups across Metro Vancouver, he said.
Perry said Sikhs have been vital to B.C.'s forestry industry for more than 100 years.
"They have played a tremendously strong role in Canada right from the turn of the last century in developing the forest industry and creating their own businesses and now they feel singled out. It is a really isolating feeling for them," Perry said.
Ron Slaco, the chief forester at Interfor, said the company is now offering Sohal and Sahota with jobs at the same pay that don't require hard hats.
"It includes back pay, so the worker is not out of the pocket with back pay, and the worker will have a job at our site," Slaco said.
David Perry, representing the two men, said they will continue with the human rights complaint but will consider the job offer.
Sahota said the job offer was only made after their story broke in the media.
"Eventually all will benefit if we win this case. All the practising Sikhs would benefit for this," he said.
Ultimately, they're fighting to have the company policy and law changed so that Sikhs working in sawmills are allowed to only wear a turban, he said.