An Immigration Canada letter that said people with the common Sikh surnames Singh or Kaur have to change their last names before coming to Canada was "poorly worded" and is not government policy, a spokeswoman from the department says.

"Permanent resident applicants with the surnames Singh or Kaur are not required to change their names in order to apply," Karen Shadd-Evelyn, a spokeswoman with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said in an e-mail to CBC News Wednesday. [Link]