Manitoba鈥檚 public insurance company has revoked a Star Trek inspired custom licence plate after receiving complaints that it鈥檚 offensive. Nick Troller鈥檚 two-year-old plate reads 鈥淎SIMIL8.鈥�
Troller keeps it inside a licence plate holder that says: 鈥淲E ARE THE BORG. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.鈥� He says Trekkies will recognize that it鈥檚 a reference to the cyborg villains who bellowed 鈥測ou will be assimilated鈥� on various Star Trek series and movies.
He says strangers have complimented him on the plate and taken photos. 鈥淚 thought it was funny,鈥� he said.
But Troller got a phone call Wednesday from someone at Manitoba Public Insurance, who he says told him two people had complained that the word 鈥渁ssimilate鈥� is offensive to indigenous people.
The of assimilate include 鈥渢o absorb into the cultural tradition of a population or group鈥� and 鈥渢o take into the mind and thoroughly understand.鈥�
Troller disagrees that it鈥檚 offensive.
On Thursday, he was served with a letter that states: 鈥溾�t has been brought to the attention of this office that the personalized plate ASIMIL8 is considered offensive.鈥� The letter demanded that he 鈥渟urrender鈥� the plate immediately.
The letter says Troller can either get a new personalized plate or a refund on the $100 charge.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 not the point,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e become way too sensitive. You can鈥檛 say anything anymore to anybody.鈥�
Ry Moran, from the is among those who agree with MPI that the word 鈥渁ssimilate鈥� is too offensive to be on a licence plate.
鈥淔or basically the entirety of this country鈥檚 history, indigenous peoples have been forcibly assimilated through really extremely destructive means and ways,鈥� he said.
Moran added that 鈥渨ords like that, meant or not, have an actual impact on many people.鈥�
states that 鈥減lates cannot contain a slogan that could be considered offensive.鈥� MPI said in a statement that it takes such complaints 鈥渧ery seriously鈥� and will investigate why the plate was approved in the first place.
Licence plates are property of the Crown and there is no appeal process.
Troller鈥檚 situation is reminiscent of a controversy in Nova Scotia, where a man named Lorne Grabher鈥檚 personalized GRABHER plate was revoked after a complaint that it was offensive to women.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms that it plans to sue the Nova Scotia government over the revocation, which it sees as an infringement on freedom of expression.
The JCCF鈥檚 John Carpay said the GRABHER licence plate revocation is part of a wider trend in Canadian society.
"Canadians are becoming increasingly less tolerant of free expression," he said. "You have more and more people who believe that they have a legal right to go through life without seeing or without hearing things they find to be offensive."
With a report from CTV Winnipeg鈥檚 Jon Hendricks and files from The Canadian Press
