VANCOUVER -- Baljinder Narang's teenage sons tear around suburban Vancouver on their scooters and bikes. Neither wears a helmet any more. They stopped after the head knots on their turbans grew too large to squeeze under a helmet.
Ms. Narang, whose family is Sikh, said she worries about their safety, but is philosophical.
"My concern as a parent is that they could get hurt," said Ms. Narang, who is completing her master's degree in health education. "But it's a judgment call and they could get hurt doing anything. They could be walking down the street doing nothing and they could get hurt."
Practising Sikhs in British Columbia have had the right to ride bikes without wearing helmets since 1996 after Sikhs lobbied the provincial government for an exemption. Three years later, it was extended to motorcyclists who wear turbans.
So Ms. Narang is struck by the current controversy in Alberta where Sikhs are threatening legal action to extract a similar exemption from a recent law requiring cyclists to don helmets.
She is disappointed that Sikhs in other parts of the country are still waging court battles for the right to wear religious clothing. Ms. Narang, a mother of three, said she is also weary of being labelled irresponsible by mainstream Canadians. The issue at hand is religious freedom, she argued.
"It feels like people are still stuck in a time warp, because the arguments that our generation is presenting are no less than what our parents have done and what their parents have. And it seems like every generation, we go through this learning curve and there's a whole lot of people, who, for whatever reason, don't hear it or don't want to hear that other people have got different views."
Last year in Quebec, a 12-year-old Sikh boy fought his school board in court over the right to wear a ceremonial dagger in school. His parents say they will fight the matter all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada but in the meantime, he has switched to a private school.
Now, some Sikhs are calling on Ottawa to pass an omnibus bill that would exempt Sikhs across Canada from laws that contravene their right to wear religious clothing.
"We are asking for some political will," said Anne Lowthian, executive director of the World Sikh Organization. "At this point, we're having to go to court every single time. And this isn't good for anybody."
Ms. Lowthian said the Sikhs are aware of the risks of going without helmets, but that their right to decide takes precedence. Sikhs who live in Alberta should not face different laws than those in British Columbia, she added.
However, helmet advocates who fought against the exemption in B.C. say people who refuse to wear helmets are risking death or serious injury in the event of an accident.
Studies show that helmets decrease the risk of head and brain injury by 70 to 88 per cent.
"We're just trying to save lives," said Glenna Ayerst, founder of the National Bicycle Safety Foundation.
Ms. Ayerst was instrumental in persuading B.C. to adopt one of the toughest helmet laws in North America, requiring all cyclists to wear protective headgear -- not just minors.
So she was disappointed when B.C. became the first province to grant an exemption to the law. Ms. Ayerst believes that was a mistake but she's given up fighting.
Ms. Narang said she's aware of the dangers that could befall her sons on bikes, but isn't about to change her mind.
"I guess that's where the faith comes in," she said. "If something is meant to happen in their life, then it will happen. But you can't compromise values for fear of what might happen."
Ms. Narang's friend, Kanwal Singh Neel, agreed. He too supports the helmet exemption for Sikhs.
"We've become so sterile, in what we do," the father of two girls said. "On the other hand, you have all those extreme sports, with people jumping off mountains. We have no laws against that or anything. And yet a child who wants to wear a turban and ride a bike, we say: 'No you can't do that.' So, it's a totally different way of looking at things."