吴瑶瑶： 加国选举改革应能使政体更好反应多元族裔性

 

自选举改革特别委员会报告公布以来，媒体报道就只是聚焦于特鲁多总理是否会兑现2015年大选将是最后一次采用“简单多数制”的联邦选举的承诺。

Since the release of the Report of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform, the media coverage has focused solely on whether Prime Minister Trudeau will live up to his promise that the 2015 election would be the last one based on First-Pass-the-Post system. 

 

但对于在加国现有政体中未被充分代表的少数族裔社区以及其他群体来说，选举改革远不只是选举方式的问题。

For racialized communities and other groups that are under-represented in our current political system, the issue of electoral reform goes far beyond the method of voting. 

 

从历史上来看，加国联邦政府和一些省府曾通过明显的种族歧视性法律和政策拒绝赋予少数族裔社区成员投票权，其中包括但不限于原住民以及华裔和日裔加国人士。

Historically, through overtly racist laws and policies, the federal government and a number of provinces had explicitly denied members of racialized communities, including but not limited to indigenous peoples as well as Canadians of Chinese and Japanese descent, their right to vote. 

华裔加拿大人被剥夺选举权始于加国第一任总理Sir John A. Macdonald,他在1885年推出选举法时就明确剥夺了具有“蒙古和中国血统”的加拿大人的投票权，据Macdonald称，这是因为他们“没有英国人的本能或英国人的情感或愿望”。直到1947年，也就是第二次世界大战结束两年后华裔加拿大人才重获投票权。而原住民则直到1960年才获得投票权。

The disenfranchisement of Chinese Canadians began with Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, when he introduced an election law in 1885 in which he expressly deprived persons from the “Mongolian and Chinese race” of their right to vote, because, according to Macdonald, they had “no British instincts or British feelings or aspirations.” Chinese Canadians did not regain their right to vote until 1947, two years after the Second World War. Indigenous people did not gain their right to vote until 1960. 

 

在2015年大选选出46个所谓的“少数族裔”国会议员入主加拿大议会时，一些媒体曾称这是加国历史的“转折”时刻 ，是加国多元文化的胜利。但实际上在总计338个议席中，来自不同有色族裔社区的政客仅占13%多一点，而有色少数族裔在加国人口中的占比约为19%，其中三个最大的少数族裔群体分别是南亚裔、华裔和黑人，他们共占加国有色族裔人口总数的61%。而在特鲁多组建自诩是彰显加拿大特色的内阁时，在他任命的内阁成员短名单上更是没有一个华人或黑人。

When the 46 so-called “visible-minority” MPs were elected to the Canadian Parliament in the 2015 election, some media called it a “watershed” moment in our history and a victory for Canada’s multiculturalism. In reality, out of a total of 338 seats, the politicians from different communities of colour represent just over 13 per cent of Parliament, while about 19 per cent of Canada’s population is made up of people of colour, with the largest three groups being South Asian, Chinese and black, who together made up 61 per cent of all communities of colour. When Trudeau named his cabinet, one that he described as looking like Canada, not one Chinese or black made it to his short list. 

 

由于加拿大入籍法的严格规定，如今加国有数万永久居民没有投票权，更不用说还有近20万在加国生活工作了多年，甚至几十年的那些没有确定身份，也没有任何机会获得合法身份的移民们。

Today, tens of thousands permanent residents of Canada are denied the right to vote because of the strict naturalization law, not to mention the 200,000 or immigrants with precarious status who have lived and worked in Canada for years, in some cases decades, without ever given a chance to regularize their status. 

在加国人士仔细考量哪种选举制度最适用于加国的民主政治时，也应当考虑以下两个问题：

As Canadians ponder which electoral system will be best for our democracy, considerations should be given for the following two questions: 

•哪种选举制度最能够吸引包括少数族裔社区和加拿大新移民在内的边缘化社区，从而能确保他们充分参与民主进程？

• Which electoral system will be best able to engage the marginalized communities, including racialized communities and new Canadians, in order to ensure their full participation in the democratic process? 

•无论选择哪种选举制度，应采取那些措施才能让加国的政体更加充分地反映加拿大的构成特点？

• Regardless of which system is chosen, what can we do to make our political bodies more fully reflect the makeup of Canada? 

但特别委员会报告对这两个问题探讨不够。尽管该报告也稍稍提到有必要提高“少数族裔”的代表性，但其中并没有提出具体的建议，或是尝试提出相关建议以解决这一问题。

On both questions, the special committee report fell short. While the Report did make some passing references to the need to increase representation of “visible minorities,” no specific recommendation — or an attempt to come up with one — was made to address this issue. 

 

相比之下，特别委员会对原住民、学生、年轻人、残疾人以及女性等其他一些未被充分代表，或是未能积极参与民主进程群体显然更为重视，在其报告中有专门章节详细分析了应该如何提高这些群体的民主热情，以及原住民和女性的政治代表性。但即便如此，该委员会仍然没有提出任何用于应对这些关键挑战的具体对策。

This is in contrast with the committee’s treatment of some of the other under-represented groups, or groups that are not as engaged in the political process as they should, such as indigenous peoples, students, youth, people with disabilities, and women, where there were specific sections in the report devoted to analyzing how to increase their democratic purification, and in the case of indigenous people and women, their political representation. But even then, the committee did not offer any concrete solutions for these critical challenges. 

与此同时，联邦政府亦就此展开了网上咨询以征询民意。但是除了未曾提供任何有关选举改革进程或各种备选方案的公共宣传资料或信息，Mydemocracy.ca网站上的调查问卷问题亦充斥着非黑即白的谬误。

The government has since been hosting its own online consultation to gather public opinion. Apart from offering no public education or information about the electoral reform process or the various possible options, the questions posted on Mydemocracy.ca are replete with false dichotomy. 

加国人士被问及许多“非此即彼”的问题，好像所有答案都是相互排斥的。比如有一个问题是设于需各政党进行更多合作的选举制度将会有损于政党问责制的前提下。而另一个问题则是要受访者在提高未能被充分代表群体的代表性和强化政治问责制之间做选择。

Canadians are asked a number of “either-or” questions, as if the choices presented are mutually exclusive. One question assumes, for instance, a system that requires greater collaboration among parties would be less accountable. Another asks Canadians to choose between improving representation of under-represented groups and greater political accountability. 

虽然世上没有完美的选举制度，但我们没有理由不去希望当局设计出一种具有包容性、问责性、并且最重要的是，要能满足所有加拿大人的诉求的选举制度。

While there is no perfect system, there is no reason why we cannot aspire to design a system that is inclusive, accountable, and above all, responsive to all Canadians. 

 

选举改革是鼓励加国人士参与民主政治对话的良机。我们不仅可以相互讨论有关选举制度的技术面问题，还可以探讨我们希望生活在什么样的社会里。除了改变投票方式，我们还应该探究该如何通过改革加国的公民和移民法规进一步扩大投票权。

Electoral reform is an opportunity to engage Canadians in a discussion of our democracy. We can begin by having a dialogue with each other on not only the technical aspect of voting, but the kind of society we want to live in. In addition to changing the way we vote, let us also examine how to extend the right to vote by reforming our citizenship and immigration laws.