Read the fine print

After receiving his new driver’s licence, a Francophone man noticed that the letter “é” in his first name did not appear correctly in the microtext security feature – the line of tiny text that appears to the left of the photo and on the back of the card.

After receiving his new driver’s licence, a Francophone man noticed that the letter “é” in his first name did not appear correctly in the microtext security feature – the line of tiny text that appears to the left of the photo and on the back of the card. The accented letter had been replaced with a square. He was concerned that the legitimacy of his licence would be questioned if he were to be subjected to an identity check in another province or abroad.

Result
We raised this issue with the Ministry of Transportation, which contacted the supplier responsible for printing driver’s licences. We were told the issue was due to the font used. The Ministry confirmed the man’s licence was legitimate and conformed to North American standards for police and government authorities.

Nevertheless, the Ministry told us its supplier conducted a series of tests of French accents and other diacritical characters and corrected this microtext issue. In light of this case, we were told the Ministry tightened its control processes. A new driver’s licence was issued and sent to the driver.