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Assimilation, Exploitation & Discrimination: The Unenviable Fate of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples_我的网站

下北阳光灿烂的日子

一 | Pope Francis’s July 24-29 tour of Canada included a long-overdue apology to Native Canadians for the Catholic Church’s central role in abuses perpetrated at the country’s network of residential schools.,The notorious boarding school system was funded and organized by Canada’s federal government and run by Catholic and Protestant churches. It oversaw the forceful and systematic assimilation, abuse, enslavement and even murder of Native Canadian boys and girls from the mid-19th to late 20th centuries. It was a particularly brutal and cruel, but by no means first or only, tool of oppression experienced by indigenous peoples during the European colonialists’ history in North America.,“I am here because the first step of my penitential pilgrimage among you is that of again asking forgiveness, of telling you once more that I am deeply sorry. Sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the indigenous peoples. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the Church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,” Francis said at the former site of the Ermineskin Residential School in Maskwacis, Alberta on July 25.,The pope assured his apology was “only the first step” of “a serious investigation into the facts of what took place in the past and to assist the survivors of the residential schools to experience healing from the traumas they suffered.”,Pope Francis Holds Mass in Quebec During Visit to Canada to Apologize to Indigenous Community28 July, 13:01 GMT,Assimilation,More than 150,000 Native children passed through the residential school system over its 160+ year history. Children were prohibited, often by physical punishment, from speaking their native languages, having their ancestors’ religious concepts replaced with Christianity, and facing their cultural traditions and social norms substituted for those of the colonialists.,The first experimental residential school was opened in Brantford, Ontario, in 1833, but the system only became a federally-mandated, national, industrial-scale tool of subjugation in the 1880s after Sir John A Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, ordered the commissioning of a report on the residential school system model being operated in the United States.,The report, entitled ‘Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds’, became the basis for Canadian state-church cooperation in solving the Indian “problem” by removing indigenous children from the influences passed down to them by their communities and family units.,© WikipediaIndian Residential School, (Fort) Resolution, Northwest TerritoriesIndian Residential School, (Fort) Resolution, Northwest Territories© Wikipedia,Along with forced assimilation, students were subjected to other forms of torment, including sexual abuse by priests and teachers, forced labor, and slavery. As of 2021, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation has been able to identify 4,117 documented deaths of First Nations, Inuit and Metis children in residential schools. However, new graves continue to be discovered, and former Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Murray Sinclair estimates that more than 6,000 children may have died in the residential school system over the period of its operation.,In his bombshell 2016 book “Murder by Decree: the Crime of Genocide in Canada,” writer and former United Church of Canada reverend Kevin Annett challenged the NCTR over its conservative estimates on the residential school deaths, detailing the commission’s suppression of eyewitness testimony and archival documentation, and estimating that the true death toll may have run in the tens of thousands. Annett documented how the system included a monthly “death quota” and involved the use of germ warfare, and believes that as many as 50,000 children may have perished in the residential school network.,Exploitation,Residential schools were by no means the first instance of settlers’ mistreatment of Canada’s indigenous population, with Britain’s victory against the French in the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War of 1754-1763 sealing their fate of subjugation and colonial land grabs, as well as the relentless and cynical exploitation of the most loyal tribes.,At the conclusion of the war in 1763, King George III issued a royal proclamation declaring all lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and the colonies of what would ultimately become the early United States as Native territories, outlawing their settlement or purchase by colonialists, and requiring treaty negotiations for any changes to the arrangement. In Canada –organized from the remnants of New France under the name ‘Quebec’, lands to the west and north of the colony were proclaimed Indian territory.,Centuries later, scholars continue to fiercely debate the correct interpretation of the proclamation, and whether it was meant as a permanent guarantee of Native rights to lands beyond the then-existent colonies, or a mere opportunity for colonists to catch their breath before continuing an aggressive push west.,© Photo"The British Governments in Nth America Laid down agreeable to the Proclamation of Octr. 7, 1763," Gentleman’s Magazine (London, 1763)"The British Governments in Nth America Laid down agreeable to the Proclamation of Octr. 7, 1763," Gentleman’s Magazine (London, 1763)© Photo,Even as colonists repeatedly broke the 1763 treaty’s terms throughout the rest of the 18th and 19th centuries through wars of aggression and by taking advantage of divisions within Native tribes through cunning and trickery, many Natives remained loyal to the Crown.,Perhaps nowhere was this better exemplified than in the story of Joseph Brant, an 18th-century Mohawk military and political leader who led his warriors in defense of the British Empire during the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1783, and whose efforts proved decisive in halting an American advance into what is now Canada.,In return for the loyalty shown by Brant and his fellow Mohawks, Quebec Governor Sir Frederick Haldimand promised that after the war, his people would be granted more than 8,090 square km of land around the Grand River Basin in southern Ontario. However, after the war ended in 1783, the settlers would gradually chip away at their commitments, with the Native-administered area now known as the Six Nations Reserve shrinking to just 183 square km of land, two percent of what Brant was originally promised.,Brant’s story was repeated in one form or another throughout the 19th century, and today just 0.36 percent of Canada’s total landmass has reserve status for its Native communities.,© Wikipedia / National Archives of CanadaJoseph Brant, watercolour by William ArmstrongJoseph Brant, watercolour by William Armstrong© Wikipedia / National Archives of Canada,Discrimination,Notwithstanding decades of recognition by successive governments of the historical injustices done to indigenous people, and lip service to improving their social and economic standing, Canada’s community of 1.67 million Natives continues to struggle with a broad spectrum of problems more typically characterizing countries of the so-called Third World than of a thriving, highly developed First World nation.,The Council of Canadians estimates that some 73 percent of First Nations’ water systems are at medium or high risk of contamination, with dozens of indigenous communities still lacking basic access to clean drinking water, despite billions of dollars in aid doled out by Ottawa every year to developing countries, and over a billion dollars in support sent to Kiev this year amid the Ukrainian security crisis.,Along almost every social indicator, from poverty and access to housing to crime, education, and healthcare, Native communities continue to rank below other Canadians. Nowhere is this exemplified better than in average life expectancy. While other Canadian men and women live on average to an age of 79 and 84 years, respectively, among the First Nations, Metis and Inuit, these figures drop to 72.5 for men and 77.7 for women.。　　数据来源：平湖市人民政府　　炎炎夏日，浙江平湖的羽绒服却“爆单”了。

二 | 前不久，全国最大的单品类羽绒服专业市场——平湖·中国服装城举办订货会，吸引超万名国内外客商，订单额突破6亿元。有老板直呼，这是近20年来最忙的一回。

三 | 　　当前，一些产业苦于应对需求不足，一些地方困于动能转换阵痛。透视浙江平湖这场反常的羽绒服热潮，或许能为传统产业向新向优、中小城市重塑优势提供启示。　　反季买羽绒服是消费新趋势，更是产业新机遇。　　当下，我们要重视总需求不足的突出矛盾，也不要忽视了细分需求的增长潜力。点开社交软件，能看到大量反季消费的帖子。

四 | 登山、跨南半球旅行、冰雪运动等，都为“冬衣夏穿”提供了新场景。　　如果停留于传统思维，羽绒服不过是冬日御寒装备。但如果敢于打破陈规，其完全可以蜕变为多元审美、彰显个性的时尚符号。今年，平湖羽绒服在款式上突出轻量化、功能化、时尚化，在选色上也跳出往常的“黑白灰”，上新奶油杏、焦糖棕等流行色，耳目一新的设计让产品更受青睐。　　这启示我们，敏锐捕捉消费变化，竞争再饱和的老产业里也能找到新商机。　　从外贸服装代工厂到全国最大的羽绒服生产供应基地，平湖也走过弯路。　　上世纪80年代，平湖大量承接外贸订单。“全球百件衣，平湖有其一”，规模是做大了，但潜台词是“什么品类都做”。10多年前，当地办起平湖服装城，结果产品繁杂、款式雷同，消费者不买账。　　时代在变，机遇也在变，老路不会一直好走，机遇也不会自动变成优势。“与其铺开一张网，不如磨尖一根针。”当地在试错与比较中重新校准产业方向，主动砍掉其他品类走“窄路”，最终培育出世界闻名的羽绒之都。　　今天，中国消费品数量和种类已经极大丰富。对一家企业、一个地方来讲，想在市场的“热带雨林”中卡住生态位，过去的“大而全”策略很难再奏效，必须练就绝活才能争得阳光雨露。　　这启示我们，做大一堆不如做精一个。中国的产业分工已转向高度专业化、精细化。与其挤千军万马的“红海”市场，不如集中精力走“窄路”，另辟蹊径走新路。

五 | 　　令人意外的是，平湖其实不产羽绒，可见这座小城的产业优势并非“得天独厚”，而是来自“无中生有”。再看平湖所处的嘉兴，海宁不产皮革，却做成了家喻户晓的皮革城；桐乡不产羊毛，却是全国最大羊毛衫集散中心。从嘉兴到义乌，“无中生有”是浙江不少城市创造商业传奇的密码。　　继续把视野放宽。在新疆塔里木河畔，通过水土改良，沉睡的盐碱地竟化作养殖海产的“蓝色粮仓”。在宁夏中卫，成片光伏板屹立在腾格里沙漠，以算电协同让大漠生金。“无中生有”，让大量过去欠缺开发价值的土地“长”出新产业，重构新优势。　　再看回平湖这件羽绒服，“无中生有”里有大智慧。“无”是对自身短板劣势的精准洞悉，想要摆脱困境，首先就要敢于直面困难，找出破题点。“有”并非凭空臆想，而是立足自身实际进行创造性转化，通过主动作为将潜在机会变成现实。　　百年变局加速演进、科技革命和产业变革加速发展，如何转化危机、激活潜能？　　平湖的产业实践里，有点石成金的创新思路、敢闯敢干的改革精神，更有不认命、不服输的进取心态。　　在危机中育新机，于变局中开新局。