Canadian Sikh minister Navdeep Bains was once asked to take off his turban at a US airport despite passing through the metal detector without any incident.
Bains described this incident, which took place last year at a Detroit airport, in an interview published Thursday (10) in La Presse.
"I went through all the security checks without revealing my identity as a minister," said Bains, who is Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. "I did it knowingly, as is my habit, to understand better what ordinary people are going through when they sometimes have trouble getting along with people in a position of authority."
Bains initially went through the metal detector without any incident, but soon an agent asked him to go through another screening. The machine was not working properly and as soon as it started emitting warning sounds Bains was asked to remove his turban.
"I asked him why I had to take off my turban since the metal detector had worked well," Bains told the newspaper. "I will never be asked to take my clothes off. It's the same thing. It's a piece of linen."
Bains revealed that he was approached by a security official 20 minutes before departure and the minister was once again asked to remove his turban.
"I politely replied that I did not represent a security threat, and that I had passed all security checks. He then asked for my name and identification. I reluctantly handed him my diplomatic passport. " Only then was Bains allowed to board.
The incident prompted Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to express disappointment to her US counterparts, following which both undersecretaries for the US homeland security and transportation departments apologised.
"We regret the screening experience did not meet the expectations of Mr. Bains," TSA spokesman Michael McCarthy said in a statement to CNN. "Upon review of airport closed-circuit video, we determined that the officer conducting the screening did not follow standard operating procedures and therefore received additional training."
