Take off, eh.
Via CBC:
Standing in his Winnipeg driveway, Nick Troller dusts off his vanity licence plate for what may be one of the last times.
Manitoba Public Insurance received a complaint about his Star Trek-themed vanity licence plate that reads “ASIMIL8” — and is now recalling it.
“I’m very disappointed that they’re going to take my plate away from me. I struggled to figure it out and, I don’t know, it’s not very good. I’m upset and hurt,” said Troller.
Troller said it took months to come up with his custom plate, sorting through different themes and characters from the Star Trek franchise and trying to figure out a clever combination of letters and numbers that would fit on the licence plate.
He said he doesn’t understand why after almost two years of driving around with the plate he has to return it now.
They said that it was hurting other people and I didn’t understand why because looking at the plate, and being a fan of the TV show Star Trek, I don’t see anything there that would hurt anybody. If you were a fan you would understand it,” said Troller.
He argues the plate is a reference to the Borg, a villainous alien race that threatened Star Trek heroes with the phrase, “You will be assimilated.”
Not everyone agrees with Troller. A post about the plate is circling on social media and there are multiple comments calling the plate insensitive in an era of Truth and Reconciliation, and in light of Canada’s history of trying to assimilate Indigenous people.
MPI wouldn’t speak to this specific claim but a spokesperson told CBC that all personalized licence plate requests are reviewed against established guidelines and that plates deemed to be offensive can be recalled by the registrar of motor vehicles.
HT: BCF