Change of heart: Windsorite now has personalized plate to remember his deceased son
Safwan Ammar is now driving around the city with a lasting memorial to his son, Houssam in Windsor, Ont. (MIchelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)
Safwan Ammar of Windsor is now driving around the city with a lasting memorial to his son, Houssam.
The 15 year old died of leukemia before the family immigrated to Canada from Lebanon.
“Houssam in the Arabic culture, in the Arabic language, is one of the names of the sword which is a very strong name. I gave him the name 20 years 23 years ago,” Ammar told CTV News in February.
At the time, Ammar came to CTV News because the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery denied his claim for a personalized plate that read “Houssam”.
Safwan Ammar holds the letter from Service Ontario rejecting his application for a personalized licence plate in his sons name in Windsor, Ont. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)
He was told it did not meet criteria under the heading “violence or criminal activity”.
“They consider my son's name as a criminal activity. That's unfair. That was an insult. That was a discrimination against me, my language, my culture, my ethnicity. And first of all, against my son,” said Ammar.
Ammar was connected with a Ministry official to appeal the decision.
In early April the ministry reversed the decision, after reconsidering Ammar’s request and the reasons behind it.
He told CTV News he’s “grateful”.
“I believe he (Houssam) can see me and I wanted to show him how I am proud of him. I wanted to take him everywhere here in Canada,” said Ammar.
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