Free Republic

Whether “assimilation” is by fictional aliens in the television series Star Trek or in real life against Indigenous people, the meaning is the same and should never have been approved for a personalized licence plate, a senior executive with Manitoba Public Insurance says in internal email. The unusual government discussion of alien species came during panicked discussions by senior staff at the non-profit Crown corporation that approves and issues the province’s licence plates after social media buzz about a Star Trek fan’s personalized plate “ASIMIL8.” The government immediately cancelled the plate in 2017, after two years of it decorating Nicholas...

A Canadian man's license plate can forget about living long and prospering. After receiving multiple complaints, Manitoba resident Nick Troller was forced to hand over his license plate that read "ASIMIL8," a reference to the Borg, a popular alien race from Star Trek. The Borg are villainous cybernetic organisms who assimilate other societies into their own. The phrases "we are the Borg" and "resistance is futile" are printed on the license plate's frame.