Vehicle Registration Plates of Canada - Designs and Serial Formats

Designs and Serial Formats

Licence plate numbers are usually assigned in ascending order, beginning with a starting point such as AAA-001. Thus, someone familiar with the sequence can determine roughly when the licence plate was issued. After Ontario's transition to an ABCD-123 format in 1997, plates were issued in ascending order starting with AAAA-001. It took close to ten years to exhaust the supply of plate numbers with A as the first digit. In late 2006, plates with B as the first digit were assigned, and have continued from there sequentially.

Many provinces distinguish their licence plates through distinctive colour schemes and logos, which historically have been changed annually. For example, the reigning monarch's crown has appeared on every Ontario licence plate - including customized plates with no "dash", in the form of a second validation sticker - since 1937. Licence plates of the Yukon have long featured a prospector panning for gold. In the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, all licence plates are cut in the shape of a polar bear, but meet the standardized mounting guidelines.

Typically, the registration number is embossed or, more rarely, impressed onto the licence plate. Other identifying information, such as the name of the issuing jurisdiction and the vehicle class, can be either surface-printed or embossed.

In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for all their passenger vehicle plates at six inches in height by twelve inches in width, although these figures may vary slightly by jurisdiction. In North America, only Saint Pierre and Miquelon has not adopted these standards. (Although the Northwest Territories and Nunavut plates are cut in the shape of a polar bear, their mounting holes are compatible with those of the rest of Canada and the U.S.) Smaller-sized plates are used for motorcycles and, in some jurisdictions, mopeds and certain types of trailers and construction equipment.