A Canadian babu has just started unilaterally enforcing an obscure policy banning immigrants with the surnames Kaur or Singh. The bureaucrat wants Sikhs to pick more unique names. The government’s apparently never heard of assigning identification numbers:

Incognito

… a long-standing [Canadian] immigration policy… forces people with the surname Singh or Kaur to change their last names… [Jaspal Singh] has no choice but to legally change his name in India so he can get to Calgary before [his wife] gives birth next month…

… a letter sent from the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi to Singh’s family [states] that “the names Kaur and Singh do not qualify for the purpose of immigration to Canada…”

… the policy preventing people from immigrating to Canada with those last names has been in place for the last 10 years. “I believe the thinking behind it in this case is because it is so common” … there is no such policy against other common last names. [Link]

It’s reminiscent of the Ellis Island urban legend, when an immigration officer who couldn’t pronounce your name would supposedly change it without asking:

An inaccurate myth persists that government officials on Ellis Island compelled immigrants to take new names against their wishes. In fact, no historical records bear this out. Federal immigration inspectors… were more interested in preventing inadmissible aliens from entering the country (which they were held accountable for) rather than assisting them in trivial personal matters such as altering their names… the inspectors used the passenger lists given them by the steamship companies… These were the sole immigration records for entering the country and were [not] prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration…[Link]

In retaliation, Chandigarh call centers are refusing to deal with customers named Smith or Johnson. They’re just too hard to tell apart.

Update: The Canadian goverment is standing behind the policy! Unbelievable.

Karen Shadd-Evelyn, a spokeswoman with citizenship and immigration department said the reason for the policy is that it helps officials with the paperwork and allows them to identify people’s files quickly, efficiently and accurately. “You can imagine you wouldn’t want your file to be confused with someone else’s…” [Link]

Update 2: The government has backed down.

Related posts: The yellow badge of courage, Welcome to the circular, Priceless Sikhi, Kirtan with Angie, Breaking up is hard to do, Camp appeal, Singh. Is that Muslim?, Inside the mind of Toba Tek Singh