Nouman, who arrived in the country with his mother and brother just over 10 years ago, hoped that Canada would bring him much-needed security and peace of mind after leaving a country that was then under threat of a seizure of power by Taliban militants.
He had no idea that a license plate obtained last year was going to put him in danger. CBC-Radio-Canada has chosen to use only his first name for security reasons.
He says when he bought his first motorcycle from a dealership last summer, he didn’t notice that the plates bore the series of characters 1S1S6
.
However, after multiple death threats and accusations that he was a supporter of the Islamic State terrorist group, Nouman asked provincial service provider Service Ontario to change his plate.
However, instead of giving him a new one, he says that his request was dismissed out of hand and that he was thus exposed to new threats.
Not only was my life threatened at that time, but a government employee also laughed at me for the same
did he declare.
This puts you in a situation of total helplessness.
We know you are a supporter
It’s not the first time the province has come under scrutiny for failing to knock out potentially offensive plaques.
In 2018 and 2019, CBC Toronto reported that plaques appeared to fly under the radar despite having explicit meanings in a variety of languages including Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu.
This particular license plate should have raised some questions sinceISIS
(Daesh
in French) is considered by Canada to be a terrorist group and has made headlines for the atrocities it has committed, says a sociology professor.
Momin Rahman, a Trent University professor who studies racism and Islamophobia, says the plaques Nouman pointed out would have been obviously stigmatizing
for him and that the province should have known.
Just two months after buying his motorcycle, Nouman says someone accosted him outside Metropolitan University of Toronto and shouted insults at him what his license plate was supposed to mean. Nouman then saw only an isolated incident. Winter was approaching and he was soon going to put his motorcycle away.
However, last spring the threats started again. In May, he said, three men shoved him outside the school, threatened him and said: We know you’re a supporter [de Daech].
After that, Nouman says he complained to the police and went to a Service Ontario center in Etobicoke to ask for his plate to be replaced. He says the attendant ignored his concerns and said the change would cost him $59.
The principal concerned refused, saying that the plate should never have been put into circulation given the resemblance of its number to the English abbreviation ISIS
.
After all, he points out, the province prohibits license plates considered shocking
for a variety of reasons, including those that contain words that are sexual in nature, vulgar, insulting, derogatory, that allude to religion, that promote violence, that contain political opinions or that express hatred against a person or against a group.
Yes, I could pay that amount to avoid this kind of thing, but at the same time, Service Ontario has a responsibility to provide me with plates that won’t put my life at risk, right?
he said.
On June 10, Nouman says he was accosted again by another group of men outside the convenience store where he worked. This time, he decided to go see an official the next day to plead his case. He almost didn’t make it.
While driving to a Service Ontario office in Mississauga, Nouman said a man driving a gray or silver car nearly ran him off the road on Dundas Street. Luckily, he swerved into a free lane just in time and caught up with the car at a red light, where he was able to write down his license plate number.
I was lucky in many ways because the left lane was clear, because I was able to see this person in time, react in time, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been there to tell you this story
did he declare.
A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services apologized to Nouman for his experience, adding that his plate was eventually replaced at no cost.
We apologize to this person for not meeting our service standard and we are working to ensure that this situation does not happen again.
the statement said.
The department says the plate review is intended to be as complete and detailed as possible
to make sure they are not jarring, but since this is a manual process, sometimes a particular combination of letters and numbers is missed.
The ministry also says its officials undergo mandatory training to foster cultural sensitivity.
Immigrant threatened because of license plate number beginning with ‘1S1S’