Gurbaj singh biography of rory

Ian PalmerNovember/December 2003

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Illustration By Sally Wern Comport

Depending on whom you ask, Gurbaj Singh is either a victim of religious intolerance or a troublemaker defying his provincial government, school board, and school.

In 2001 the then-12-year-old Sikh from Montreal made headlines when he knocked heads with his school, Sainte-Catherine-Laboure, over his wearing a four-inch (10-centimeter) ceremonial dagger, known officially as a kirpan.

Though he had previously been described as a pleasant child by his principal, Gurbaj Singh's reputation plummeted after his kirpan fell to the ground as he played on school grounds. A parent—understandably skittish, given recent high-profile incidents of school violence—subsequently reported the incident.

While it was considering its options, the school board paid to have a tutor home-school Singh, but when it agreed to uphold its zero-tolerance policy, i