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British Columbia Veteran License Plates
On
June 2, 2004, the Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell,
and Solicitor General Rich Coleman announced a new series
of special BC license plates for veterans that honours the
men and women who served Canada "by defending freedom
and preserving peace." The
release of the plates was timed to coincide with the 60th
anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Europe by Allied troops
during World War 2, and were to be made available to motorists
beginning on 6 June 2004 through ICBC's Autoplan network. |
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British
Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell (right) with Lt.-Col.
Archie Steacy (left), president of the BC Veterans
Commemorative Association, on the front steps of the
Legislature in Victoria launching the new series of
licence plates honouring veterans in BC for their
service to Canada. |
| Plate
Types & Background Information |
The
Veteran's plate employs a single design that has been applied to passenger, commercial truck and motorcycle plates. To read more, including an interesting bit on the creation of the design, just Click Here! |
| Milestones |
As a "restricted" optional specialty license plate, Veteran plates are only available to certain motorists and their purpose is to recognise past service to the country and not to raise funds. Consequently, the success of the plates is not determined by "sales". Despite this, the provincial government has organised a number of milestone events over the years, generally around Remembrance Day:
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| The
Best License Plate Design of 2004? |
Every
year the Automobile License Plate Collector's
Association (ALPCA) holds a survey amongst its
membership to determine the most highly regarded
design (amongst collectors) issued during that
calendar year. In 2004, the Veteran base was
nominated for this award. To see how the voting
played out, Click
here! |
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| Identity Crisis? |
When the Veteran plate was released in 2004, ICBC defined
a "veteran" as being someone who
served during wartime; in a post-war capacity; or
during a NATO or UN operation (including members of the
RCMP and Municipal Police who served in such NATO or UN missions). This definition was tweaked in 2012 when the province expanded the definition of "veteran" to include currently serving members of the Canadian Forces. In 2018, at the behest of the Royal Canadian Legion (BC), the province proposed expanding the definition of "veteran" to include RCMP and municipal police officers - which was vociferously opposed by some veterans. To read more about this brou-ha-ha, Click
here! |
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Sample
Plates |
Despite ICBC not formally making sample plates
available to the public, some
interesting specimens have shown up over the years. To see some of these, Click
here! |
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© Copyright Christopher John
Garrish. All rights reserved. |
