Cree man fights to keep NDN CAR licence plate rejected by Manitoba insurer as 'ethnic slang'
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has taken on case; fought for disputed ASSIMIL8 and GRABHER plates
A Cree man is fighting with Manitoba's public insurer to keep his licence plate — which reads NDN CAR — joining a growing list of people across the country battling insurers over personalized plates.
Bruce Spence, a Nehiyaw (Cree) man living in Winnipeg, is challenging Manitoba Public Insurance's decision to revoke his licence plate, which the Crown corporation says "may be considered offensive."
Spence got the personalized plate about seven years ago, a news release from the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said. The slogan is a reference to a 1992 folk-rock song NDN Kars by Keith Secola, an Anishinabe musician.
"The N-D-N is a contraction for the English term 'Indian,' and we thought it would be a good way to identify ourselves and express our nationality, our sovereignty," Spence told CBC News.
The Justice Centre — which has represented other rejected licence plate holders — has taken on his case.
"Government entities like MPI are required to consider the charter right to freedom of expression," lawyer and Justice Centre president John Carpay said in a statement.
"That MPI would go after a personalized plate that playfully refers to a well-liked song that has cultural significance for many Indigenous people demonstrates a lack of cultural sense and understanding," he said.
"More importantly, this underscores how a government agency is not competent to referee evident expressions of humour in culture."
'An anthem to humble people'
The music video for the Secola song features an old broken-down car — similar to what Spence was driving when he bought the plate, the Justice Centre's news release said.
In May 2018, MPI notified Spence that it had received a complaint about the plate, saying it was offensive and "ethnic slang."
Spence wrote to Manitoba Crown Services Minister Colleen Mayer to express his concern with MPI's decision to revoke his plate, explaining the meaning and context of the phrase.
"I have received nothing but happy smiles and thumbs up signs from fellow travelers across Canada and the United States because people recognize the sign for what it is, a tribute to being an Indigenous person driving a car," the letter said.
"This song is an anthem to humble people just trying to get around our country the best way we can."
In February, Spence got a letter from MPI telling him his plate was being recalled and that he could choose another slogan of his choice at no cost.
MPI stated in the letter that it was in the process of reviewing all personalized plates and that Spence's plate was identified in that review among "phrases or innuendos that may be considered offensive."
"I can see where certain plates would be offensive, but I don't understand how this could be offensive to anybody," he said.
"It is me expressing who I am."
Carpay said that's where the freedom of expression laws need to take precedence.
"If you've got a contest between somebody claiming a right not to be offended, versus somebody wanting to express themselves, we should side with the person wanting to express themselves," he said.
The public insurer wouldn't comment on Spence's case.
"As this has now become a litigious matter, MPI will not be providing any further comment," a spokesperson for the Crown corporation told CBC News.
MPI's website says an application for a personalized plate will not be accepted "if it is considered offensive, suggestive or not in good taste, in any language."
Spence wants MPI to review their process and allow people to explain before taking the plates away.
"If they're going to take your plate away, possibly suspend your insurance, you should have some kind of a hearing to deal with it," he said.
"It doesn't have to be so arbitrary, they can talk to people, they can ask questions."
Other plates rejected
The Justice Centre said Spence surrendered the plate to MPI and the group is now helping him take the matter to court.
This isn't the first licence plate case the Justice Centre has taken on.
It is currently representing another Manitoba man whose Star Trek-themed "ASIMIL8" plate was also deemed offensive to Indigenous people by MPI.
That case was heard by the Court of Queen's Bench on Monday. The judge has reserved his decision.
The Justice Centre is also representing Lorne Grabher, a Nova Scotia man whose GRABHER licence plate was revoked in 2016 by that province's Registrar of Motor Vehicles.
Grabher's case will be back in court on April 23.
The organization is representing both men on a pro bono basis, said a news release issued Monday.
"Freedom is destroyed gradually, bit by bit by bit, so if you wave the white flag and surrender on these relatively small fights over a license plate, what that does is it weakens the fabric of the free society," said Carpay.
"No hill is too small to die on when it comes to the erosion of free expression."
The Justice Centre has also supported private religious schools that enforce policies some have called anti-LGBT, including B.C.-based Christian university Trinity Western, which made students pledge to abstain from having sex outside of heterosexual marriage.
With files from Aidan Geary