A 2006 Supreme Court of Canada ruling<\/a> recognizes the kirpan as a protected religious article. The Court found it can be accommodated in a wide range of settings, including schools, courthouses and legislatures, provided it remains sheathed and does not exceed 23 centimetres in overall length.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/S7HNI4URMNB6NCGDWTPVBKXMEA.jpg\")
Gurpartap Singh Sangha Gurpartap Singh Sangha working out at the gym. (Source: Gurpartap Singh Sangha) <\/p>\n
Chris Lewis, CTV News public safety analyst, says the gym has the authority to ask for the kirpan to be taken off and put in the car or locker until the workout is complete to ensure other members feel safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s a safe environment,\u201d said Samar Houad, a GoodLife Fitness gym member. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot that the person was going to do anything, but I just felt like maybe that\u2019s not really the safe place to bring something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houad notes there is an influx of teenagers during the summer months as GoodLife provides a free membership for teens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I were to see that, I would have been a bit alarmed,\u201d said Houad\u2019s son, Noah. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not safe to bring in a gym full of teens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have let him stay in because he\u2019s just trying to work out,\u201d another minor told CTV News. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these things are based out of ignorance,\u201d said Balpreet Singh, spokesperson for the World Sikh Organization of Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that a Sikh wearing a kirpan just wears it to the gym. They\u2019re wearing it at all times\u2026at home and bathing even. It\u2019s worn literally at all times. They are treated as a part of your body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singh says the request for Sangha to leave the gym was unacceptable.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/QFQ3ZKH3EFEFJNJ7B45A6MCYLI.jpg\")
Gurpartap Singh Sangha Gurpartap Singh Sangha films at Goodlife. (Source: Gurpartap Singh Sangha) <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you go to a gym, you are seeing all kinds of items that potentially could be used to do serious harm, whether it\u2019s dumbbells or barbells or weight plates,\u201d explained Singh. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don\u2019t look at those items and say, \u2018Oh my God,\u2019 is someone going to hit me with them? You do what you\u2019re there to do which is exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Tracy Matthews, senior vice-president of experience and safety at GoodLife Fitness, said the company is committed to creating a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe interaction shown in the video reflects a situation where our established practices were not applied as intended. We have reached out directly to the individual involved to address this matter,\u201d Matthews said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe comply with all applicable government legislation, including Canadian human rights laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sangha hopes this incident is an opportunity to educate the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoodLife should also be educating their workers on different faiths. So that\u2019s what I strongly advise,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cI always believe in people. People make mistakes. You\u2019re human.\u201d<\/p>\n
The local GoodLife Fitness issued an apology to Sangha, which he says he has accepted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Windsor, Ont. gym has apologized after a Sikh man was kicked out for having a kirpan. CTV…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[712,49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-818074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Z4HSUGFTJRGZJJPUTK6JREV3WY.jpg\")
Gurpartap Singh Sangha Gurpartap Singh Sangha working out at the gym. (Source: Gurpartap Singh Sangha) <\/p>\n