Amen Cajunscot. Sikhism was born in adversity, they were assailed by both Muslims and Hindus and had to defend themselves.

Orthodox Sikhs adhere to the five "Ks": the kirpan, not cutting one's hair, wearing special underwear, wearing a bangle on the right wrist and one more I can't recall.

At the same time, an oath sworn by a highlander on a dirk was a holy thing - going back to pre-Christian beliefs. It was something more than culture, something less than religion. Banning kirpans is a tough call - but they are a weapon after all. A cop would likely assess a skean dhu ban depending on the situation.

But Quebec outside Montreal tends to be increasingly made up of descendants of the original French habitants, and they're generally less familiar with other cultures than we are here in polyglot Toronto. Folks know their genealogy too, though they commonly imagine we Anglo-Scots arrived recently. It surprises them to hear that my first ancestors turned up on this continent in the 1630s, for example, or that another ancestor fought to defend Quebec from American invasion during the Revolution, or that some of us actually speak passable French. Wearing a kilt in Quebec is a statement they do respect - the Scots who settled in after New France had been beaten themselves, and were less heavy handed than the English. It isn't uncommon either in Quebec to find someone who only speaks French, with an Irish or Scottish surname. We're a funny country up here. A famous "French" former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, wore an Elliot kilt on occasion. I can't think of a PM who's done that since.

As for Gurkhas, they love tartan and the pipes. Met some attending a winter exercise at a huge army base near Quebec City last winter. Much mutual language incomprehension and laughter when they tried to buy the rice they liked in the army supermarket. Very fit and formidable though - I felt you could trust them with your life.