Amid the ongoing violence debate the vanity licence plates that some people say promote drunk driving, gun violence are also making buzz in BC and Ontario.
Members of the Punjabi-speaking community say these plates fly in the face of authorities who are trying to curb the drinking and driving and gun culture.
One example from B.C. reads "PK-TUNN" — which several members of the Punjabi community said can be interpreted as "wasted after drinking" or "I'm drunk."
ICBC is responsible for reviewing and issuing personalized licence plates in the province.
According to ICBC, plates can have "practically any unique message that's fit to print," but warns the corporation "will not issue… plates that may be interpreted as vulgar, indecent or offensive."
Kal Dosanjh, CEO of KidsPlay Foundation, an outreach program for underprivileged youth in the Vancouver, says "From my point of view, ICBC cannot be held accountable for this. These kind of "Disturbing" slogans are usually submitted by young drivers. They think it's funny and it's a prankster move."
Brampton’s Sudeep Singla a community activist in Peel Region is also concerned and claims these vanity licence plates violate provincial laws because they have words on them that he claims promote violence. These plates have escaped the province's notice because they're written in South Asian languages.
"Our kids who are born here, brought up here, they're going to ask us, 'What does this mean? Why this car with a bad plate is roaming around on the street?' I'm personally feeling very offended. It tells people we're promoting violence and gun usage,” he tells.
Service Ontario, the provincial agency responsible for issuing personalized licence plates, states on its website a plate message "may be created using almost any combination of letters and numbers" but plates will not be approved if they include:
Sexual messaging.
Abusive, obscene language and derogatory slang.
Religious messaging.
Drugs/alcohol references.
Political figures, dignitaries/law enforcement officials.
Violence/criminal activity.
Human rights discrimination.
The Ministry of Transportation says it would not allow a licence plate spelling out "rifle," "gun," "musket," or "weapon" in English or any other language, and says sometimes vanity plates "are unintentionally issued which may prove to be offensive to some members of the public."
Balpreet Singh, spokesperson for the World Sikh Organization, believes the vanity plate promoting alcoholism or drinking are offensive has no business being on a car.
“Bandook just means rifle or musket. It's hard for me to read anything into it. So tying 'bandook' to violence is a stretch. These are a bunch of kids who like gangsta rap” he says.
