Why does Canada have a Black History Month?

09 Feb 2023

为什么加拿大有黑人历史月？黑人历史月庆祝黑人加拿大人的贡献，并承认他们的斗争。 Why does Canada have a Black History Month? Black History Month celebrates the contributions of Black Canadians, and acknowledges their struggles.

加拿大黑人和新移民对加拿大作为一个国家的发展产生了重大影响。面对历史上的系统性种族主义和许多非种族化移民不太可能遇到的其他障碍，他们这样做了。 Black Canadians, and newcomers, have had a significant impact on how Canada has grown as a country. They have done so in the face of historic systemic racism and other obstacles that many non-racialized immigrants are less likely to encounter.

为了纪念加拿大黑人的贡献，政府于 2008 年开始正式承认 2 月为黑人历史月，但自 1970 年代以来，个别省份一直在以某种形式纪念黑人历史。 To mark the contributions of Black Canadians, the government began to officially recognize February as Black History Month in 2008, but individual provinces have been commemorating Black history since the 1970s in some form or another.

加拿大最近一直在努力变得更加公平，并弥补过去犯下的错误，例如奴隶制和种族隔离以及更现代的歧视和边缘化问题。这项工作的一部分是教育所有加拿大人了解黑人对加拿大文化、经济和社区的贡献。 Canada has recently been making efforts to become more equitable and atone for the mistakes made in the past, such as slavery and segregation as well as more modern issues of discrimination and marginalization. Part of this effort is educating all Canadians about Black contributions to Canada’s culture, economy, and communities.

加拿大的黑人人口 Canada’s Black population

2021 年人口普查数据显示，有 150 万人，即加拿大人口的 4.3%，自称是黑人。自 2016 年上次人口普查以来，这一数字增加了近 35 万人。基于这一趋势，加拿大统计局预计，到 2041 年，加拿大的黑人人口将超过 300 万。 Data from the 2021 census shows that 1.5 million people, or 4.3% of the population of Canada, reported being Black. This is an increase of nearly 350,000 people since the last census in 2016. Based on this trend, Statistics Canada projects that the Black population in Canada will reach more than three million by 2041.

在黑人移民中，23.7%是2016年至2021年进入加拿大的新移民。据报道，加拿大黑人人口中有300个种族或文化来源，包括非洲人、海地人、加拿大人和牙买加人。 Among Black immigrants, 23.7% are new immigrants who were admitted to Canada from 2016 to 2021. There were 300 ethnic or cultural origins reported among Canada’s Black population, including African, Haitian, Canadian and Jamaican.

近三分之一的黑人移民出生在非洲，其中尼日利亚、埃塞俄比亚和刚果民主共和国是非洲三大移民来源国。此外，人口普查报告称，21% 的黑人移民出生在加勒比海和百慕大，其中大部分在牙买加和海地。事实上，有 249,000 名加拿大人报告有牙买加血统。 Nearly one-third of the Black immigrant population was born in Africa, citing Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the three top African countries of origin. Further, the census reported that 21% of Black immigrants were born in the Caribbean and Bermuda, mostly in Jamaica and Haiti. In fact, 249,000 Canadians reported Jamaican ancestry.

加拿大的大部分种族化移民，包括黑人移民，都选择在大城市定居，其中多伦多的黑人移民人数最多，其次是蒙特利尔，然后是渥太华。 2016 年至 2021 年间，有 34,320 人从非洲移居艾伯塔省，其中大多数人选择在卡尔加里定居。 Most of Canada’s racialized immigrants, including Black immigrants, choose to settle in larger cities, with Toronto having the largest number of Black immigrants, followed by Montreal and then Ottawa. Between 2016 and 2021, 34,320 people moved to Alberta from Africa, with the majority choosing to settle in Calgary.

大多数黑人移民年轻且受过教育 Most Black immigrants are young and educated

通过优先考虑个人候选人的技能和教育，加拿大已经能够欢迎更多的黑人移民。例如，从 2016 年到 2021 年，大约 46% 的黑人移民拥有学士或更高学位。 Canada has been able to welcome an increased number of Black immigrants by prioritizing skill and education of individual candidates. For example, about 46% of Black immigrants from 2016 to 2021 had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

加拿大的黑人人口平均也比总人口年轻，平均年龄为 30 岁。这意味着许多黑人移民在其核心工作年限的早期阶段抵达。 (25-54)。 The Black population in Canada is also younger on average than the total population, with a median age of 30 years. This means many Black immigrants are arriving in the early phase of their core working years. (25-54).

公民身份和移民常设委员会于去年 5 月召开会议，并向下议院建议，学生直通计划（Student Direct Stream）是一项快速跟踪国际学习许可申请的计划，向来自尼日利亚、加纳和非洲其他法语国家的申请人开放。这将有助于鼓励年轻的黑人移民在加拿大定居，也将有助于加拿大履行其在魁北克省以外促进两种官方语言双语的移民任务。 The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration met last May and recommended to the House of Commons that the Student Direct Stream, a program that fast tracks applications for international study permits, be open to applicants from Nigeria, Ghana, and other francophone nations in Africa. This would help to encourage young Black immigrants to settle in Canada and would also help Canada meet its immigration mandate of promoting bilingualism in both official languages outside of Quebec.

加拿大黑人移民史 History of Black immigration in Canada

加拿大黑人移民的历史并不总是积极的。加拿大作为前英国殖民地，在其最早的历史中并非没有奴隶制。 1700 年代，加拿大的大多数黑人都被奴役了。为了承认那段历史，许多前奴隶主的纪念碑已被拆除，一些著名机构（如大学）的名称也已更改。 The history of Black immigration in Canada has not always been positive. Canada, a former British colony, was not without slavery for much of its earliest history. The majority of Black people in Canada during the 1700s were enslaved. In acknowledgement of that history, many memorials to former slave owners have been removed and the names of some prominent institutions, such as universities, have been changed.

尽管如此，在美国独立战争（1775-83 年）期间，英国人向任何愿意与美国人作战的奴隶提供自由。许多选择入伍的人获得了自由，并最终定居在滨海省，尤其是新斯科舍省。 Still, during the American War of Independence (1775-83) the British offered freedom to any slaves who would fight against the Americans. Many who chose to enlist were granted freedom and eventually settled in the Maritimes, particularly Nova Scotia.

1833 年，整个大英帝国废除了奴隶制，1800 年代发生了第一波黑人移民到加拿大的大潮，当时有 30,000 名黑人逃离了美国南部的奴隶制。他们通过地下铁路到达加拿大，这是一个秘密路线和安全屋网络，帮助他们避免被捕和重新奴役。 Slavery was abolished across the British empire in 1833 and the first major wave of Black immigration to Canada took place in the 1800s, when 30,000 Black people fled slavery in the southern United States. They made their way to Canada through the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe-houses that helped them avoid capture and re-enslavement.

进入 1900 年代，加拿大的移民政策有利于白人欧洲人和美国人。大多数录取完全由招生官和他们的个人偏见决定。 1962 年引入新的移民法规以消除种族歧视时，这种情况开始出现一些变化。这些规定强调技能是主要的录取标准，而不是国籍或种族。 Into the 1900s, Canada had immigration policies that favoured white Europeans and Americans. Most admissions were entirely at the discretion of an admissions officer and their personal biases. This began to see some change in 1962 when new immigration regulations were introduced to eliminate racial discrimination. These regulations emphasized skill as the main admissibility criteria instead of nationality or race.

FCGvisa translated, © CIC News All Rights Reserved.