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Star Trek Fan Forced To Give Up ASIMIL8 License Plate


Manitoba Public Insurance has forced a Star Trek fan to turned over his personal license plate after getting complaints that its message — ASIMIL8 — is insulting to indigenous people.

"ASIMIL8" is a nod to the Borg in Star Trek, and as Toronto Star reports, Troller had been driving around with it for two years and it was accompanied by a license frame that said "We Are the Borg" and "Resistance is Futile." Troller said that fans liked his license plate, and critics who complained about it were being too sensitive about it.

The clear Star Trek reference in Troller's ASIML8 license plate was not designed for Canada's indigenous population, but not everyone knows who the Borgs in Star Trek are. Troller told CTV Winnipeg that on Star Trek, an enemy race of aliens called the Borg travel through the galaxy trying to assimilate other cultures into their own.

Troller received a phone call on Wednesday from a staff member at Manitoba Public Insurance who told him two people had complained that the word "assimilate" is offensive to indigenous people and later received a letter demanding him to "surrender' his license plate immediately, informing him that he can either acquire a new license plate or a refund on the $100 charge.

"But that's not the point," Troller said "We've become way too sensitive. You can't say anything anymore to anybody."

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Ry Moran, from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, said, "For basically the entirety of this country's history, indigenous peoples have been forcibly assimilated through really extremely destructive means and ways."

According to MPI's policy, plates cannot contain a slogan that could be considered offensive." MPI said that it takes such complaints "very seriously" and will find out why the Star Trek-themed plate was approved in the first place.

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