Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Marsh Pysar has about 200 NWT licence plates at his home in Andrew, Alta. But he wants more - specifically, the old-style NWT veteran licence plates.

Pysar, a retired flight service specialist who worked for the territorial government in Fort Smith and Yellowknife in the 1960s and '70s, is an avid licence plate collector.

But the 76-year-old hit a wall when it comes to the old veteran licence plates. The remaining old-style licence plates held by the Department of Transportation are being destroyed.

According to Michael Conway, registrar of motor vehicles with the department, there are only 1,000 veteran licence plates and each number is an identification of a person.

The veteran licence plates have the letters VET followed by three numbers. When the new regular and veteran licence plates were launched in the summer of 2010, there were some old-style veteran licence plates that had not yet been issued to veterans.

As of 2010, when a veteran comes to motor vehicle licensing office for a licence plate, he or she is given the new licence plate with three numbers, but the old licence plate with the same three numbers is still in stock.

Conway said it would be unfair of the department to be allowed to sell these old-style licence plates because a new veteran plate will be issued to a veteran at some point and there should not be an old-style plate with the same numbers on it on eBay, in a collection, or anywhere.

"We can't take the plates that we have that we were issuing to people and sell them to somebody else. We're selling it twice," said Conway.

Conway said the department will keep about five of the old-style veteran plates for the government archives, but otherwise, the remaining licence plates will be destroyed - the metal recycled to make something new.

Pysar said the GNWT's plan to destroy the licence plates is shortsighted and he has the support of licence plate collectors from around the world in the form of a petition.

This has been an ongoing battle for Pysar, who has been trying to purchase the old plates from the government since they were discontinued in 2010.

"I'm concerned," said Pysar, who owns a complete collection of NWT licence plates going back to 1952.

"You just don't destroy history. I think it's a short-sighted decision. I think it's a shameful decision."

The new veteran plates have graphics on them as well as an image of a poppy, while the old plate was the outline of the white polar bear with the veteran's numerical sequence. He said in the collectors' world, they're "begging" for the plates. He also said the department could sell the plates and donate any profit to the veterans of the NWT.

Conway said it's a personal licence plate issued to veterans and, if someone acquires the plate, they are also acquiring that person's identity.

"It means something to these people," he said.

When it comes to the regular licence plates, when the new style was issued in 2010, the plates started with the number 300000 and will go up from there.

"We didn't have any old plates with that high a number, so when you see these things being sold, that's fine because they're not on vehicles anymore and (they're) selling plates that we're never going to reissue," he said.

"The veteran plates is a totally different thing. It's for veterans, it's very specific and we want to keep the integrity of that pure."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.