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Dhillon Wins Battle Against Helmet Law

A P Kamath in Vancouver

Avatar Singh Dhillon spent the weekend taking more than 100 telephone calls, meeting with scores of Sikh supporters, and declined the offer by several admirers to buy him a motorcycle.

For, 53-year-old Dhillon, who won the right on last Friday to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, does not own a motorcycle.

He might now buy one, he says. He has even received suggestion that he should lead a motorcycle rally in Vancouver -- with scores of turbaned Sikhs following him.

His fight was to challenge the British Columbia Motor Vehicle Act's ruling that all riders should wear helmets. But to Dhillon his victory is more meaningful than defeating the bureaucracy -- it is what he calls fighting yet another battle to win the understanding and respect for Sikhs.

"The victory is for every Sikh all over the world," he says, adding that Sikhs everywhere should be proud that they won respect in yet another part of the world.

A few months ago a Princeton University professor settled his case against a plush New York restaurant which had denied him service because he had refused to remove his turban. Now, the Don Quixote restaurant, has a sign that hats are allowed for religious purposes.

Sikh temples in BC, forgetting their bitter feud over radicalism and moderation, had supported Dhillon's fight by giving testimonials.

To BC Human Rights Commissioner Mary Woo-Sims, the decision would help ensuring "a society that allows diversity to flourish."

The tribunal's decision sends a message to the government that it must take extra care in enacting laws that are sensitive to the code formulated by the Human Rights Commission, she added.

She also told the traffic police: "If there are Sikhs riding motorcycles without helmets, don't ticket them." And she asked they be allowed to take the road tests without the helmets.

British Columbia's Highways Minister Harry Lali, a clean shaven Sikh, had no comment on the judgement by the Tribunal. Highways ministry lawyers had argued in opposing Dhillon's plea that the public should not be expected to bear the high cost of caring for the brain injuries that could result in accidents involving helmet-less riders.

Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh said the decision "could have a significant implication." The province has six months to challenge the law.

Three years ago when the BC government made bicycle helmets mandatory Sikhs protested -- and the law was withdrawn within a few weeks.

Dhillon says Friday's victory was the end of a nearly three-decade-old personal struggle that began when he refused a job at a pulp mill in a British Columbian town because the owner insisted he shaved his beard and cut his hair. It was very difficult, he recalls, he had hardly any money on him. But his faith gave him solace and encouragement, he adds.

He says he lost several jobs because of his turban. He sought to challenge the helmet law when he was refused a road test four years ago. Dhillon says he rode a motorcycle in India for several years before he migrated to Canada.

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