WSO Welcomes Accommodation of Dastaar at Hamilton Port

Toronto (October 21, 2020):  In response to the needs of Sikh truck drivers who wear dastaars (turbans), Federal Marine Terminals have introduced a special accommodation procedure at their Hamilton site.  The accommodation procedure allows truck drivers who refuse to wear a protective hard-hat due to their faith to be served without compromising their beliefs.  The policy has been developed after dialogue with the World Sikh Organization of Canada and in response to the needs of certain Sikh truck drivers. 

As per the special procedure, truck drivers who request accommodation to not wear a hard-hat over their dastaars will be informed that once they leave the scale, they cannot exit the cab of their truck at any moment while on the terminal. The driver will only be allowed to exit the cab once they arrive back at the scale to sign out.  The driver will drive to the location indicated and, once available, FMT’s labour will load/unload the bulk material.

The full special procedure can be viewed here. 

WSO Vice-President for Ontario, Sharanjeet Kaur, said, “we would like to congratulate FMT on accommodating Sikh truck drivers who wear dastaar and cannot wear hardhats.  We believe that this special procedure addresses the need to accommodate without compromising safety.  We are grateful for FMT’s initiative in this matter.”

The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) is a non-profit organization with a mandate to promote and protect the interests of Canadian Sikhs, as well as to promote and advocate for the protection of human rights for all individuals.