Sikh teen acquitted in Montreal kirpan case

Updated: Friday, at 11:30PM

Last year we covered the story of a Sikh youth accused of brandishing his kirpan on the schoolyard. Accounts of the incident were hugely divergent; it was unclear whether an assault had ever actually occurred, or whether the report was a feature of animosity toward religious minorities in Quebec.

Yesterday that youth was fully acquitted of the kirpan-based charge, and his other possible charges were dispensed. The outcome of this case is a success for the youth involved, but also in that its outcome has no bearing on the interpretation or application of its effect to the kirpan in general. The judge in this case intimated that the case had gone too far and would never have been brought, were it not for the youth’s nationality and religious identity:

“If the three boys had the same nationality, and the same faith, this case would not have ended up before the court,” youth court judge Gilles Ouellet said in giving the boy an absolute discharge yesterday.

This is not only because of the differences in religious practice between the two, but rather, because of the underlying discrimination and tension rooted in mistrust and a lack of empathy for religious/cultural/ethnic minorities. As was mentioned earlier, this is the same school district that moved to unilaterally ban the kirpan in schools — its policy was later overturned by Canada’s Supreme Court.