A 'Support Our Troops' license plate. (Photo: Government of Alberta)

By Justin Goulet

Exploring a special kind of license plate

Nov 11, 2021 | 6:15 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – If you’re driving down the street, you may notice a vehicle with a special license plate.

It very well could be a veterans license plate or a ‘Support Our Troops’ plate. Veterans themselves can purchase special license plates marking their service time, but the public is also able to show their support by purchasing a different kind of plate, in an act of year-round remembrance.

Glenn Miller with the Lethbridge Legion said the ‘Support Our Troops’ license plate features a yellow ribbon “and four soldiers’ rifles and helmets to the ground.”

The rifles and helmets represent the first four Alberta-based Canadian soldiers whose lives were lost in Afghanistan in 2002. These plates can only be purchased for passenger vehicles used for personal transportation, with some of the funds raised going towards the Support our Troops program.

The program was developed in 2007 and helps meet the needs and challenges faced by members of the Canadian Armed Forces as a result of their military service. The program operates within Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services. More details on the program are available here.

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Any member of the public can order a ‘Support Our Troops’ plate, whereas the veterans plate are only issued to eligible members of the military. The veterans plate cannot be exchanged for a ‘Support Our Troops’ plate.

Glenn Miller remarked that, “here in Lethbridge, we’re thankful and appreciative to those people who have license plates that are veterans.”

He added that in Lethbridge, those with veterans plates “don’t have to pay for parking for the indicated amount within the parking zone.”

“So, we thank the City of Lethbridge for showing their support and gesture to veterans in that manner.”

LNN asked the City of Lethbridge about this. With the Pay by Plate system, which came into effect in the city in 2018, a traffic bylaw amendment which was in place was carried over. It allows veteran-plated vehicles to park in the shorter duration parking zones in Lethbridge (two or three hour zones) without the requirement to pay. If they are going to be longer in each zone, then they do have to pay.

The city said for enforcement purposes, the veteran-plated vehicle would be flagged as not paying and no ticket is issued. The system in place remembers the vehicle from the first parking session and if it is in the spot all day, a fine for over parking may be issued. The city noted that there have been very few times where this has come into conflict.

The bylaw amendment does not apply to the ‘Support our Troops’ license plates for the general public.