Source: The Province/Edmonton Journal
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=c69aa4f3-7ece-4f8b-b9d2-03fd38efe722
A Sikh worker is headed home to the United Kingdom after he was ordered off a job site in Alberta for refusing to shave his beard.
"I've never, ever been treated like this anywhere else I've been around the world - I'm completely stunned," said 24-year-old Av Singh, who was hired for an eight-week stint as a turbine adviser at a TransAlta Corp. plant west of Edmonton.
He's now heading home three weeks early, after a safety supervisor told him Friday his beard would not allow him to properly wear a protective mask.
He was given the choice of shaving or leaving. Removing the beard is against his religious beliefs, so Singh refused the razor and instead hired a human-rights lawyer.
"I don't know what it's going to achieve, but I don't think it's fair the way I got treated," he said.