加拿大双重国籍政策有碍发展多元文化

 

 

与中国、印度及日本等其他许多国家不同的是，加拿大承认“双重国籍”。换句话说，也就是在你入籍成为加拿大公民时，加拿大并不要求你放弃依据出生地、父母血统或归化入籍所获得的其他国籍。

Unlike many other countries including China, India, and Japan, Canada recognizes “dual-citizenships”. In other words, Canada does not require that you forsake other citizenships entitled to you through birth, parental genealogy, or naturalization when you become a Canadian citizen.

 

拥有双重国籍的公民享有诸多好处，比如可以在两个国家自由地生活和工作，可以在两国同时拥有财产，并可以更便利地在两国之间来往穿梭。但这同时也会带来一些弊端，包括可能会令你面对双重征税，并受到两国法律的约束等。

Dual citizens enjoy certain benefits, such as the ability to live and work freely in two countries, own property in both, and travel between the countries with relative ease. There are drawbacks including the potential for double taxation and the fact that you become bound by the laws of two nations. 

加拿大1947年推出的《公民法》首次明确了加拿大国籍制度。已入籍加拿大公民有权返回其祖籍国并恢复原有国籍，即便其永不返回加拿大，也仍然可以保留加拿大国籍。外界普遍认为有许多拥有双重国籍的加拿大公民因此得以让家庭成员享受加拿大卓越的健保和教育体系，而在他们的原籍国发生政治动乱时，加拿大往往被视为逃生之地。 

Canadian citizenship was first created in 1947 by the Canadian Citizenship Act. A naturalized Canadian citizen has the right to return to his native country and to resume his former citizenship, and also to remain a Canadian citizen even if he never returns to Canada. It is believed that many of Canada’s dual citizens make use of Canada’s renowned health care and educational systems for family members and consider Canada as an escape hatch in the event of political turmoil in their country of origin.

双重国籍制导致移民缺乏全身心投入加国之热情，并削弱了移民的归属感，从而变相鼓励许多族裔群体划地为牢，继续讲非英和法语之母语，并可在其母语的环境中寻找就业机会。这种情况使得他们难以充分融入主流社会。通常情况下，第二代移民才会开始融入当地社会，并掌握加拿大的其中一种官方语言。

Dual citizenships fosters a lack of total commitment to Canada and diminishes one’s sense of belonging thus encouraging many ethnic groups to form enclaves where they can continue to speak their own languages, and seek working opportunities in an environment where only their non-English or non-French mother tongues are spoken. This situation impedes their proper integrations into mainstream society. Typically, it takes the second generation of immigrants to start the integration process and master one of Canada’s official languages.

许多持有另一国籍的移民会让他们的家庭成员生活在加拿大，而自己却回到原籍国打理海外生意，并在两国间进行定期往返。这些移民也被称之为“太空人”。他们花了很大精力与时间以满足入籍居住要求，但却无意融入当地社会。他们对加国从未产生归属感。

Many of the immigrants holding another citizenship elsewhere will leave their family members in Canada while they return to attend to their businesses overseas, traveling back and forth to Canada on a regular basis. These people are also known as “astronauts”. They take a long time to fulfill the residency requirements for citizenship and there are no attempts to integrate themselves into society. Their hearts and minds are not with Canada.

在2006年以色列-黎巴嫩冲突期间，加拿大政府曾从黎巴嫩疏散大量加拿大公民，与此同时 “纸上加拿大公民”  一词也随着加拿大政客Garth Turner的宣传而广为人知。“纸上加拿大公民”是指持有双重或多种国籍的移民在满足加拿大的入籍居住要求后，便返回其原籍国并同时保留加拿大国籍作为安全保障。在2006年的疏散行动中，每名撤离者实际花费约为$6,300元（1.5万人共耗费$9400万元）。但是据估计，在1.5万撤离者中有近7,000人撤离不到一个月就返回了黎巴嫩。

The term "Canadians of convenience" was popularized by Canadian politician Garth Turner in 2006 in conjunction with the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. It refers to people with dual or multiple citizenships who immigrated to Canada, met the residency requirement to obtain Canadian citizenship, and moved back to their original home country while maintaining their Canadian citizenship, as a safety net. The actual cost was about $6,300 for each evacuee ($94 million for 15,000 people). Of the 15,000 evacuated, about 7,000 may have returned to Lebanon within a month of being evacuated.

让我们重新回顾一下加拿大多元文化政策的宗旨。该政策旨在让所有公民自由地信奉自己的宗教和保持其文化特征免而遭受迫害之忧。其目的自然是建立一个“开放式环境”，促进所有加拿大人分享彼此的文化。

Let us look at the intentions of Canada’s multiculturalism philosophy again. We can see that it allows citizens to practice their religions and keep their identities without the fear of persecution. Of course, it is meant to be practiced in an “open environment” and that cultures are to be shared with other Canadians. 

 

但不幸的是，实际情况并未如预期那样发展。在其他加拿大公民很少参与的情况下，各族裔群体的传统习俗往往令人难解。族裔群体获准开展各种民族庆典和节日庆祝活动，但他们邀请参与者时往往只针对本族裔群体。在通常情况下，相关活动的广告也只会发布在本族裔媒体上。

Unfortunately, this is not happening as planned. Customs are typically confounded within ethnic organizations with very limited involvement by other Canadian citizens. Organizations receive grants to carry out ethnic celebrations and festivals but focus on their own heritage group when it comes to the call for participation. Typically, activities are advertised only in the group’s ethnic media.

要想实现所有加拿大公民充分共享文化，并达到多元文化政策的既定目标和宗旨，第一步就应该取消加拿大的双重国籍制。

Elimination of dual citizenships in Canada should be a first step to effect the proper sharing of cultures between all citizens and achieve the origin goal and ideology of multiculturalism.

 

加拿大的多元文化政策亟需改革，下一次我们将探讨一些改革机会。

Canada’s multiculturalism needs an overhaul and we will look at some of the opportunities for improvement next time.