A spate of vandalism and aggressive notes left on vehicles with Alberta plates in British Columbia led one young man to overlay his license plates with a fake plate to avoid confrontation.
The vehicle was spotted by a local councilman, who saw license plates he hadn’t seen before on a truck in a grocery store parking lot. On closer inspection, the BC plate peeled off, revealing the true Alberta plate underneath.
The incident prompted the Revelstoke councilor, Cody Younker, to repeat calls for tolerance for out-of-province tourists. He believes the hostility towards their Albertan neighbors is uncalled for, and locals must do better at welcoming their provincial neighbors.
“It was mind-blowing and it was really saddening at the same time that he felt that he needed to do that in order to prevent vandalism to his vehicle. There’s a lot of worry. You’ve heard stories from Penticton, Kelowna, Revelstoke. I mean why else would you put fake BC plates on your vehicle when you go into the grocery store and then as soon as you come out of the store you pull them off?”
– Councilor Cody Younker
Although Americans are prohibited from crossing the border into Canada, there has never been an order prohibiting inter-provincial travel by Canadians within their own country. At the beginning of the pandemic, non-essential travel was discouraged, but that has been the only recommendation.
We must do better at welcoming our Provincial neighbours. They should not fear having their vehicles vandalized because of the colour of their plates. Instead they should fear our #canucks winning the #StanleyCup!!
— Cody Younker (@CodyYounker) August 22, 2020
Younker hopes people in town will welcome the crucial summer influx of Canadian tourists. For the tourist season to be a success, they need to welcome visitors. Usually, the bulk of their visitors after Labor Day are Europeans, but that will not be the case this year.
“We need those people to come; we need people from Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan. We need people from B.C. If we didn’t have tourism, our economy would be in a lot more dire situation than it is right now.”
– Councilor Cody Younker
There has been a number of reported incidences of vandalism against vehicles with Alberta plates, and a couple of angry notes left on vehicles.
