One of the most common surnames in Canada, imbued with religious significance for millions of Sikhs around the world, is now, after yesterday's reversal of a 10-year policy, deemed acceptable by the Canadian government.
For the past decade, Indian immigration applicants with the surname Singh or Kaur were told by the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi that their names, too common to process quickly, would have to be changed.
Twenty-four hours after the World Sikh Organization raised the issue, Citizenship and Immigration Canada yesterday announced it was dropping the policy, calling the whole thing a misunderstanding based on a "poorly worded" letter.
It's not known how many people have been affected. Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla (Brampton-Springdale) says in the past three years she's received about 500 complaints from constituents whose family members were told to change their names when applying to immigrate.
The New Delhi immigration office is one of the busiest in the world. Immigration Minister Diane Finley refused to comment, but according to statements from the department, the policy asking for a different name was meant to help speed up applications and prevent cases of mistaken identity due to the commonness of Singh.
It said its New Delhi visa office had reported "very few complaints" about the request and explained that most Singhs or Kaurs often have an additional family name, even if it is not often used, that can be easily added to their passport.
Most of the world's 30 million Sikhs are given the name Singh, for men, or Kaur, for women, usually as a middle name.
But for those Sikhs who choose to be baptized, or initiated into the orthodox order of the faith, their previous surname is dropped for Singh or Kaur to symbolize unity and to remove names used to identify social standing within India's caste system.
"If you have to change your name to come here, we have to ask ourselves, `Are we really celebrating all the great things that are hallmarks of this multicultural country?" said Dhalla, whose riding has one of the largest Indo-Canadian populations in the country.
When asked why the immigration department's policy in New Delhi hadn't been challenged before by politicians, lawyers or the public, Dhalla said she has brought it up to immigration officials.
But she admitted the issue had never made it to the floor of the House of Commons.
"At least not to my knowledge."
Brampton lawyer Harinder Gahir, who routinely takes on immigration cases, says he's had about 100 clients complain.
"But the problem is they are family members already here complaining on behalf of family members in India they are sponsoring.
"The applicants themselves don't want to complain and most comply because they don't want their chances for immigration to be jeopardized."
When asked if he believes the immigration department's claim that the policy was just a misunderstanding and that people with the surnames Singh or Kaur were actually allowed to apply, Gahir said, "They were told, unequivocally, `You can't apply with the surname Singh or Kaur.'"
A follow-up story on the CBC's website includes what appears to be a letter from the High Commission in New Delhi, dated May 17 and addressed to Jaspal Singh.
It states:
"The names Kaur and Singh do not qualify for the purpose of immigration to Canada."
But the department's statement yesterday said that "Permanent resident applicants with the surnames Singh or Kaur are not required to change their names in order to apply.
"In no way did CIC intend to ask applicants to change their names. The letter that was previously used to communicate with clients was poorly worded. We are making changes to ensure there will be no misunderstandings in the future.
"CIC recognizes that previous communications with clients may not have been clear on this issue and regrets any inconvenience this may have caused."
"That's outrageous," said Sat Gosal, a lawyer at the firm RZCD in Mississauga who has helped challenge human rights violations against Sikhs for more than two decades.
Gosal, who was aware of the policy, is glad Sikh organizations finally complained publicly.
"This goes back to my father's days in England, during the post-colonial days of the '50s and '60s, when administrative convenience was the justification for changing names that were too common or hard to pronounce." Anglicizing or at least simplifying names was once also common in Canada.
