what are your thoughts on this ?
3/25/09
Just wondering ...
Today in law class we reviewed an issue that the Canadian Supreme Court had to look over. Sikh's are the people that wear the turbans on their head due to their faith. Another thing that they wear is a kirpan. A kirpan is a knife/blade that they wear on the side of their belt in a case. Now it's considered a "spiritual item" but schools are banning kids (young men) from wearing them to school. Schools say its for safety reasons, Sikh's are saying that this will violate their freedom of religion. I honestly do not know what side to choose but this is what i think. You have the right to express your religion, until it interfers with the safety of other individuals. Also, that kirpan is no joke. You can shank the ish* outta someone with it.
what are your thoughts on this ?
what are your thoughts on this ?
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8 comments:
Very good question. Hm..iuno which way to go either. Religion is a big thing but the fact that its basically a nice little weapon kinda bends the rules. =/
Absolutely agree. You can exercise your rights as long as you don't inflict on the rights of others and other students should/must have the right to safety within the public education system. that's my 2 pesos.
Maybe if schools weren't so damn corrupt now a days then maybe they wouldn't have to ban this but unfortunately there are shootings, stabbings and whatnot in schools almost everyday so yes, I do agree that, for the safety of the other students, this should be banned. There's always that one kid that will look at this and be like well if they can carry around a weapon, why can't I, religion or no religion.
your talkin' bout grade 11 law right? I guess the Ontario curriculum still hasen't changed much...well when we studied the same case six years ago, my whole class voted against the kirpan and were in favour of banning the kirpan.
I'm thinking, ok, I want people to feel comfortable in their surroundings, but this conflicts with both the religious aspect of carrying that mini sword (for real if blown up that would be a SWORD not a knife), and the safety of those who inhabit the space around the carrier of said object.
for the sword: the person carrying this definitively concealed weapon, should be at a state of responsibility where they can do so without considering it for the use of harm on others.
against the item: hey, we all have our days. what if one day the wrong person gets on young Sikh's nerves? If he went to Vanier or Cederbrae, the metal detectors would go off and that goes against that schools policy. so why should it be allowed in schools that aren't up to that level of security yet (and i say yet consciously) because a level of violence hasn't yet (there's that word again) been reached. So, why would we allow a POSSIBLE situation to arise due to the presence of a - non debatable - weapon?
I think that there could be a substitute, I'm sure it's not disregarding your religion to not have the object on you for certain hours of the day. If a grown Sikh worked for the airport for example, they wouldn't be allowed to carry it on the job right?
i have no opinion on it's use or ban, but that's what i think of it.
omg,this makes me miss first semester:( lol but anyways, something like this would clearly fall under section 1 of the Charter, the reasonable limits clause. its not reasonable for someone to have concealed weapons in school, or any such setting. therefore as important as freedom of religion, or any other fundamental freedom is, an infringement like banning the kirpan is reasonable. so im sure any law passed banning them would be found as constitutional by the Supreme Court.
ps. good post kenza :)
This is a very interesting topic little one. I remember doing this in high school and we actually had an individual that was of that religion in our class. His argument was that as a young man in that religion you must carry this dagger at all times and that not allowing the student to carry it would be an infringement of their human rights. Alot of people don't even know that they have this dagger on them, think about it did you know that they carry this under their clothing before this class? and if you did I guarantee you alot of people dont. He also spoke about how using this dagger to cause harm would be going completely against their religion therefore those that are truly religious to their faith would never even think of using it as a weapon. I was also told that it is wrapped underneath the clothing a bunch of time so realistically if they were to take this out to come attack you it would take them a long ass time to get it out and you coulda done ran already LOL.
just another view to this discussion!
carry a plastic kirpan... it may not a real sword but is still symbolic and important but not dangerous or a weapon
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