Canadian experts say incident involving a Hindu sect and the Eiffel Tower would not happen in this country

But it did in in 2014 (CBSA allowed religious travellers to avoid female guards), which generated considerable media attention and condemnation:

A Hindu temple grand opening in France has turned into a global controversy over whether followers of the Swaminarayan sect asked female employees not to be present during a delegation’s Sept. 6 visit to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The Hindu sect, the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), has a substantial following in Canada, but constitutional law and workplace experts say this country’s human rights and anti-discrimination laws would prevent a similar incident from happening here.

BAPS, which originated in the Indian state of Gujarat, has a strong following in Canada and has been expanding. A Toronto temple was built in 2007 and the Calgary temple was built in 2021. A third one is under construction in Belleville, Ont.

If a similar request were made in Canada — to ask female staff members to step away from their positions — the guiding legal principle would be the “duty to accommodate” outlined in human rights codes, according to Pearl Eliadis, a human rights lawyer and associate professor at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy in Montreal.

Eliadis said Canada’s duty to accommodate, the legal principle that requires employers to make room for an employee’s religious or medical needs, likely does not apply to a case like this because the request would come from a visiting third party rather than an employee needing protection. …

Source: Canadian experts say incident involving a Hindu sect and the Eiffel Tower would not happen in this country