A Surrey man’s prolonged fight with the Insurance Corp. of B.C. for the right to wear religious headgear in his driver’s license photo has reached a boiling point.

OBi Canuel, 36, was told Friday the public insurer would not permit him to drive past the end of the day unless he submitted to a photograph with a bare head.

“I was content to wait until they changed their mind and, in the meantime, they never hesitated to give me paper interim licenses,” he said. “This was never a problem until today.”

Canuel said when he went into an ICBC driver licensing office Friday, staff gave him a one-day permit.

“I have to work and this is inconvenient,” he said. “I don’t imagine that this will get resolved over the weekend, so I will have to spend at least some time unable to drive.”

For Canuel, a Pastafarian minister in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster who wears a colander on his head in religious observance, ICBC’s demands amount to an attack on his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“In Canada we have a right to religious expression and those rights weren’t put in place for the familiar status quo religions,” he said. “They were put in place precisely for cases that are unusual.”

“I want everyone to have the right to express themselves religiously within the limits prescribed by law. And I don’t want anyone to think that they should feel ashamed or embarrassed or that there’s anything wrong with expressing yourself religiously.”

Canuel’s fight began nearly a year ago when he tried to have his license photo taken while wearing headgear in — or so he thought — accordance with ICBC policy, which states: “ICBC affirms your rights to religious expression. You will not be asked to remove any headgear that does not interfere with facial recognition technology as long as it is worn in conjunction with religious practice, or is needed as a result of medical treatment.”

But the insurer balked, telling him in a later letter, “we understand there is no religious requirement that prohibits you from removing the colander.”

Adam Grossman, a spokesman for ICBC, would not disclose whether the provincial insurer has a list of religions it recognizes, or how it makes decisions as to whether a form of religious headgear will be accepted.

He said in a written statement that “we will always try to accommodate customers with head coverings where their faith prohibits them from removing it. Mr. Canuel could not provide us with any proof that his faith prohibits it.”

Grossman noted Canuel is not wearing his headgear in videos posted to his YouTube account.

mrobinson@vancouversun.com

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