Tag Archives: vanity licence plates

Insurance Corp. rejects my applications for various “white” personalized plates, and the BC Human Rights Tribunal rejects my discrimination complaint.

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Insurance Corp. rejects my applications for various “white” personalized plates, and the BC Human Rights Tribunal rejects my discrimination complaint.
Hi Folks….,
Another example of White privilege?
Some of you are aware I’ve been studying racial and ethnic issues for some time now.  In the process I’ve learned many interesting things, one of them being (contrary to popular opinion), that White people are not an inherently evil race, nor are they responsible for all the evils on the planet.  There are reasons why many believe this, but I won’t go into that now.  Once I got rid of this delusion, I was able to realize (and give myself permission to see) that the White race has in fact contributed many good things to the collective human experience.  Yes, of course there have been dark periods, but that can be said of all races and ethnic groups at various times down throughout history. 
Last year, in order to celebrate this newfound knowledge and appreciation for my race (and test the waters), I put an application into ICBC (the state-owned Insurance Corporation of British Columbia), for a personalized licence plate with the slogan “WHT PRD,” standing for “White Pride.”  I thought since various other races and ethnic groups are allowed to openly celebrate their identity and heritage (Black History Month, Asian Pride Week, Mexico’s La Raza, to name a few), I might be as well. 
Wrong…..
The application came back rejected because the Manager of the Dept. had “performed an internet search” and found that the phrase “White Pride” was being used by some White Supremacist groups.  His Dept’s determination was that this slogan, among other things, “might be considered not in good taste.” I took it up with their Customer Relations Dept. and then their Fairness Commissioner, but they both just parroted what the Dept. Manager had said.  I then filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal for discrimination based on race, colour, and ancestry.  That took a year and they ended up not accepting the complaint.  Bad enough, but the Tribunal Chair took things a step further in his letter and more or less scolded me for thinking that I should be allowed to be proud of my race, and that this sort of thing does not line up with “the purposes of the Act.”
Ok…, Round 2.  In Feb this year I sent in an application to ICBC for another personalized plate with 3 choices this time:  WHT BOY, WHT FLR (feller), and, wait for it….., WHT MAN (I know, highly evil).  I just got their reply last week and all 3 were rejected — the reason given?  Each “contain a collection of characters that may be considered offensive.”  Wow!  I will take this up with their Customer Relations Dept. and Fairness Commissioner again, and see what kind of reasons they come up with this time around.  If it’s not resolved I will file another discrimination complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal and see what they have to say.
Now to be fair, it may just be that ICBC has a policy not to allow anything “racial” on personalized plates, and just isn’t able to come out and say this since they would run the risk of sounding politically incorrect.  It would be interesting to see what would happen though if someone put in a plate application for ASN (Asian) PRD, HSP (Hispanic) PRD, BLK (Black) PRD…, or NTV (Native) PRD.  Would these be accepted?  If not, and if discrimination complaints were filed with the Human Rights Tribunal, would they be accepted?  I’m curious to know.
I know just a handful of non-White folks, and they either don’t have cars or are apolitical/not into activism, so if anyone knows of any Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Black, Native, or any other non-White person in BC that wants to celebrate their racial identity with a personalized plate, please help me get in contact with them.  There is a $100 application fee for personal plates, but I will pay this, so it won’t cost anyone anything.  BC Human Rights Complaints are easy to do and free, and have the potential of paying out thousands of dollars if there is a finding of discrimination.  If I can’t find anyone, I will put these applications in myself, but it would be better if other individuals of the various racial/ethnic groups did so.
With respect to my current applications and rejections, I will apply to www.theccf.ca and see if they can help.  They’re a non-profit, and if they show an interest in my case and take it on, it will cost little if anything.  I’ve also been consulting with a clever  law student with an interest in free speech and freedom of expression.  He is recommending we file for a Judicial Review of ICBC’s decision(s) and challenge Motor Vehicle Act Regulation 34.04 for vagueness.  I am also looking into filing for a Judicial Review of the HR Tribunal’s decision, but that avenue is a bit more of a long shot.  The law student will write the JR application for about $750, and filing fee’s will be about $250.  
I’ll provide updates as things progress.  If you’re not interested in this issue, let me know and I won’t send.
Best,
Lawrence