Baltej Singh Dhillon

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Baltej Singh Dhillon was the first Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer to be allowed to wear a turban.

Born in 1966 in Malaysia, he immigrated to Canada in December, 1983, arriving in Surrey, British Columbia. His father had died from dehydration after a severe case of stomach flu. Tradition states the oldest in the family is to take over, but that happened to be his older brother who had moved to Surrey as part of an arranged marriage. It was decided that the family would move to Canada.

After graduating from high school, he went on to Kwantlen College to study criminology with hopes of becoming a criminal lawyer. Having been advised to do some volunteer work to improve his chances of getting into law school, he helped the RCMP launch the Block Watch program in his community. During the summer he was hired by the force to work on the program.

Baltej decided that he wanted to join the RCMP. He went to the recruiting office and met all the requirements. Then the recruiting officer raised the delicate issue of the turban. RCMP policy did not allow it.

The argument from the RCMP and a group of ardent anti-turban activists in Alberta was that the stetson was part of the uniform and allowing a turban into such an all-Canadian institution would change the face of Canada forever.

In Alberta, supporters of the position taken by the RCMP set up road signs and distributed pins saying, No to turbans. Over beer in the bar, people would talk about how immigrants should be like Canadians when they moved here. Dhillon raised the question, "What is a Canadian?" arguing he was one, too, and he had the citizenship papers to prove it.

Over 150,000 signatures on petitions to retain the dress code, and sympathetic legislators presented the results to Parliament. Fearing that racism was involved, Sikh leaders pointed out that turbaned Sikhs served in the British army in two world wars and now work in many Canadian police forces.

Ten months went by and the RCMP commissioner, Norman Inkster, ruled in his favour. Dhillon entered the RCMP Academy, Depot Division, in Regina, Saskatchewan, as the first turbaned cadet.