行长简尼道歉了吗?加拿大央行变脸的歧视疑惑

　　Canada $100 Bill Controversy: Bank of Canada Apologizes After Accusations of Racism

　　去年11月，加拿大中央银行推出市面流通的塑胶100元钞票，背面图像原先印有一名亚裔妇女正低头，从医学显微镜中埋头工作，彰显本国医学成就，但经过本国8个focus groups顾问焦点小组批评后，决定撤走该亚裔妇女模样，换上一名Caucasian woman 白人女子样貌，事件引发传媒评论员及华人团体质疑央行举动，有racism or racial discrimination种族歧视之嫌, prompting complaints from Chinese groups and media commentators 。

　　Globe and Mail《环球邮报》报导这段新闻的标题：Woman’s ethnicity edited out of redesigned $100 bill。

　　Ethnicity意思是the fact of belonging to a particular race, nation, or tribe and their customs and traditions，是中性字眼，表示种族特点或族裔渊源，和class阶级、gender性别、age年龄等不同因素，connotation要视乎context有关背境而决定作者取态。

　　《邮报》记者8月18月的文章这样开头：

　　The highly touted redesign of Canada’s $100 bill has come under fire amid revelations that currency designers edited out the ethnicity of a woman depicted on an early draft of the banknote, following complaints from focus groups。

　　报导彰显了revelations真相被揭露和edited out设计经删改过的程序，early design原本的族裔色彩被抹去，于是the redesign has come under fire，事件曝光后，引起了极大的争议，擦出火花。

　　The controversy 争 议 stems from an early draft of the banknote shown to focus groups 焦 点 小 组 in four Canadian cities. The initial design for the new C$100 note featured a picture of an Asian woman was scrapped or erased after focus groups expressed concern Asians should not be the only ethnic group represented.

　　根 据 Canadian Press 《加 新 社 》获 得 的 内 部 文 件： a member of the focus groups from Fredericton suggested the image didn’t represent Canada, while the one from Montreal suggested the inclusion of an Asian without representing any other ethnicities was seen to be contentious只 有 亚 裔 人 士 ，看 起 来 可 能 引 至 争 论。。

　　《加 新 社 》报 导 ：Some focus groups shown the early composite of the proposed $100 bill said the yellow-brown hues on the bill made the woman at the microscope appear more Asian and “racialized” the banknote.

　　结 果 by the time the final design emerged, the woman appeared to be Caucasian rather than Asian.

　　Chinese Canadian National Council平权会national executive director全国总干事Victor Wong黄煜文批评：

　　“It’s our position that the Bank caved to the criticism and that ‘s really unfortunate.”他认为央行届从不公平的批评令人遗憾。

　　不少人认为focus groups are often unreliable and problematic, 今次问题的症结，极可能出在8个 焦点小组身上，以及小组成员是否有足够代表性，其凭甚么理据批评新钞票上的亚裔妇女模样，不足以代表加拿大多元文化的特徵。

　　我个人认为作为代表本国的钞票，可以在钞票上反映出本国特色，multiplicity 多样性and multiculturalism多元文化族裔是加国由来奉行的政策，故钞票反映或提倡种族多元和谐 是好事，不必太讲究「政治正确」(political correctness)，作为发钞央行，不应因某些个别人士批评而轻易对原先设计作出改变。

　　问题引起讨论后几天，发展出人意表， 央行行长简尼(Mark Carney) 8月20日 罕有地承认央行处理今次事件的手法﹐未符合公众所期望的公平标准：

　　“This was not the Bank’s intention and I apologize to those who were offended.”

　　他认为出现这情况并非央行的刻意安排﹐并向因此而被冒犯的人士道歉 。

　　简尼发表书面声明﹐解释钞票设计图原先是参考一张真实相片 ：一名亚裔妇女在使用显微镜﹐但根据一贯做法﹐设计师正式为钞票描绘图像时﹐图像不能与个别真人相似﹐因此﹐便将照片上女子的特徵剔除﹐结果女子变成一名白人妇女：“Efforts by the bank note designers to avoid depicting a specific individual resulted in an image that appears to represent only one ethnic group.”

　　Read between the lines, 我个人认为 ：The apology, at best, is a qualified apology。有限度的道歉，充其量只是表演艺术 ，a performance art of damage control。

　　Mark Carney又承诺日后会检讨钞票设计的程序：

　　“We will be reviewing our design process in light of these events.”

　　简尼并且亲自主动致电黄煜文﹐解释事件﹐并代表央行作出道歉﹐有中文传媒声称足见他对华社的尊重。黄煜文相信华社大部分人，都接受简尼的声明。

　　Globe and Mail《环球邮报》对这次颇不寻常的反应和举措，有如下的描述：

　　It’s not often that the Bank of Canada finds itself scrambling to contain a controversy.

　　But as Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney waded into the debate over the country’s new $100 bill, it was clear the central bank was in damage-control mode。

　　所谓damage-control也好，危机处理也好，很有公关成份。所谓道歉apology,也不等同认错。

　　对于简尼的声明﹐全加华人协进会(平权会)多伦多分会临时总干事May Lui认为：平权会由始至终没有要求央行道歉﹐只是希望央行能在事件中「承认错误」﹐以及日后在「加国人口中族裔代表上﹐有更好表达技巧」。可是行长在声明中 ﹐都未有提及上述两点。而所谓的「道歉」﹐亦只是含煳其辞。她希望﹐央行日后能自我监察﹐以及保持开放态度﹐继续就种族﹑移民﹑加拿大如何製造身分认同等问题﹐与各族裔代表对话。

　　同样对于简尼的声明，投书Globe and Mail的读者Jeffery Ewner最心水清：

　　I was impressed by the focus groups’ perspicacity, and their thoughtful concerns about stereotypes and inclusiveness. But I couldn’t say the same for the Bank of Canada’s position. Now that the features of the woman illustrated appear to be Caucasian, the bank assures us that their policy “eschews depictions of ethnic groups on banknotes.”

　　Perhaps ignoring the obvious is something central banks just can’t help doing. But in Canada, at least, they shouldn’t have to be told that Caucasian is an ethnic group.

　　简 尼 行 长 可 能 忘 记 ：A Caucasian is a member of any of the races of people who have pale skin，高 加 索 人 或 白 种 人 ，同 样 也 是 一 个 族 裔 ，他 的 解 释 难 以 抹 煞 事 件 中 种 族 定 型 ，白 人 才 是 主 流 种 族 中 心 论 ethnocentrism的 优 越 心 态 。

　　Ethnocentricity is based on the idea that one race, nation, group etc. is better or more important than any other。