最近一个傍晚，下班后我在卡尔加里市中心的第八街上等候C线列车，就在我们当地人称作“Crack Macs”的便利店旁边。
After work on a recent evening, I was waiting for the C-train on 8th Street in downtown Calgary, right by the convenience store we locally call Crack Macs.
在一旁，我看到一名女子因吸毒过量而瘫倒在地，她的朋友正忙着将纳洛酮喷剂喷进她的鼻子里。我的左侧，两名警察正给另一个女子戴上手铐，她当时就坐在水泥地上。
Off to one side, I saw a woman slumped from a likely overdose while her friend pushed the Narcan dispenser up her nose. To my left, two police officers were handcuffing another woman on the cement.
几分钟后，有个男子问我是否在贩卖冰毒。显然在他眼里我像个毒贩。不过话说回来，在如今的经济环境下，谁不会这么做呢，对吧？
A few minutes later, a man asked me if I was selling side (slang for methamphetamine). Apparently I looked like a drug dealer to him. But, I mean, in this economy, who wouldn’t be, right?
就在我准备上车时，抬头看到车站的电视屏幕上滚动着一则新闻：加拿大统计局发布数据显示暴力犯罪率有所下降。
As I was about to board the train, I looked up and on the TV screens at the station as a written news announcement rolled by: StatsCan publishes data showing violent crime is down.
我不禁苦笑。欢迎来到“超正常化”的世界——社会体系已然失灵，统计数据无法反映真实生活状况，而政客们却装作一切正常般继续执政。
I chuckled. Welcome to the world of hypernormalization — where systems are broken, statistics don't reflect the lived reality and politicians carry on as if it's acceptable.
正是这种现状塑造了我对阿尔伯塔省独立的看法——生活变得岌岌可危，而掌权者似乎漠不关心。
This is what is shaping my view of Alberta independence — the feeling that life is now precarious and those in charge don’t seem to care.
2010年代时，我还是个年轻人，常来市中心消遣，那时的景象可绝非如此。问题也不仅限于市中心：找工作的朋友们连面试机会都得不到；在我身边，买肉和新鲜蔬菜都成了需要精打细算的开支；许多熟人原本的购房计划也悄然搁浅了。
Downtown Calgary wasn’t like this when I used to come for a night out as a young man in the 2010s. And it’s not just the state of downtown. Friends looking for work aren’t getting interviews. Meat and fresh vegetables have become careful purchases for those in my circle. Plans to buy a home have quietly died for a lot of people I know.
我在医疗行业工作，对此深有体会：我们经常讨论弱势群体资源匮乏的问题——收容所人满为患，原本能快速申请的援助项目如今排起了长队；各类项目资金不足且超负荷运转；毒品与心理健康危机也一直得不到政界与企业界的妥善应对。
I see it at my work in the health sector where we sometimes talk about the lack of resources for the vulnerable — shelters at capacity, waitlists for programs that were once quick to access, programs underfunded and stretched beyond capacity, a drug and mental health crisismismanaged by political and corporate entities.
感觉他们已经抛弃了我们这些普通加拿大人、普通阿尔伯塔人，任由我们独自应对这混乱局面。
It feels like they have left us — regular Canadians and Albertans — to manage the disarray.
我最初听到有关分离主义的讨论时，那是在探讨如何让阿尔伯塔省拥有更多话语权的背景下。当时省长丹妮尔·史密斯正在力推《在统一加拿大框架下的主权法案》，我觉得这一举措或许足以平息民众的不满情绪，也能让阿尔伯塔省民众对自己的未来更有掌控感。
When I first heard separatism being discussed, it was in the context of getting more of a voice for Alberta. Premier Danielle Smith was pitching her Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act and I thought that might be enough to quell that discontent and that it would provide Albertans a greater sense of control over their future.
但我错了。民众的不满程度远比我最初想象的要严重，而过去三年里史密斯及联邦政府所采取的举措也并未切实改善当地民众的生活状况。
But I was wrong. The discontent is larger than I first thought, and Smith and the federal government’s actions over the last three years haven’t improved life here on the ground.
如今，每当我想到自己以及周围人所怀有的愤怒情绪时，便会觉得这种裂痕其实早在新冠疫情时期就已出现。
Now when I think about the anger I feel and see around me, I think the rupture began even earlier, during COVID.
对我而言，问题并不在于那些防疫规定本身是否重要，而在于它们的执行与实施方式。强制要求出示疫苗护照、有人因滑冰而惹上麻烦、联邦政府冻结“卡车司机抗议活动”参与者的银行账户、只允许大型连锁店营业却关闭众多小商家——还有政客们仿佛不受自身制定的规则约束，在屋顶上共进晚餐的场景……这些经历让我深刻意识到，普通民众在政治上其实几乎没有多少话语权。
For me, it wasn’t about whether the rules were important or not. It was about how they were implemented and enforced. The dystopian experience of having to show vaccine passports, people getting in trouble for ice skating, the federal government freezing Convoy protesters’ bank accounts, closing small businesses while big-box stores stayed open, and seeing politicians dining together on a rooftop as if they’re exempt from their own rules — these rules made me realize how little political capital the average citizen actually holds.
自那以后，世界局势愈发动荡。如今，无论联邦还是省级层面的政客们都把精力集中在代词使用规范、禁书政策上，各种意识形态之争、多元化与平等倡议的推行与否，以及那些绝大多数民众早已厌倦的文化战争议题——这些做法实在显得脱离现实、漠视民意。
Since then, the world has gotten more volatile. When politicians on both sides focus on pronouns and book bans, all the -isms, more DEI or less DEI, all the culture war issues that most people are exhausted by — it just seems tone deaf.
责任在于联邦与省级政府双方。他们可以坚称当前只是“情绪性经济衰退”而非真正的经济萧条；可以宣称移民问题“已得到控制”、犯罪率保持稳定、新增了数万个就业岗位、GDP有所增长，甚至宣称某条输油管道有望建成。然而，当收银台前一个番茄就要卖2.50加元、西兰花的价格高达每磅3.99加元，当社区安全感不断下降、我们的工资却始终跟不上物价涨幅时，这一切都显得毫无意义。
This is on both the federal and provincial governments. They can insist this is a “vibecession,” not a recession. They can announce that immigration is “under control,” that crime rates are stable, that tens of thousands of jobs were added, that GDP is up or that a pipeline might get built. None of that matters when a single tomato at the till costs $2.50 or broccoli is $3.99/pound, the neighbourhood feels less safe and that our wages aren’t keeping up.
我认识的大多数人并非分离主义者，但他们都满腔怒火。这两类人群之间的界限其实很模糊。每当我对现状感到愤懑，觉得掌权者根本漠不关心时，就会产生寻找新解决方案的冲动——哪怕这个方案再激进也在所不惜。不过，我当然不会仅凭一时气愤就去投票。
Most people I know aren’t separatists; most people I know are angry. The line between those two groups gets blurred. And when I’m ticked off at the situation and it feels like no one in power actually cares, I feel the urge to look for a new solution, even if it’s radical. But of course, I’m not about to just vote in anger.
随着分离主义讨论愈演愈烈，我开始在社交媒体上关注那些分离主义领袖的动态，也留意他们的公开言论。其中有些言论带有阴谋论色彩：比如声称中国共产党在加拿大策划阴谋，或是断言选举存在舞弊现象。还有一篇后来被删除的帖子嘲讽卡尔加里市长过于浮夸；另一些言论则主张加拿大应当接受与美国的贸易协定。
As the debate over separation grew, I started to follow the separatist leaders on social media and watch their public comments. Some of this leaned into the conspiratorial: allegations of Chinese communist plots in Canada or of election fraud. There was a post, since taken down, that mocked Calgary’s mayor as too flamboyant, and others saying that Canada should have accepted the trade deal with the U.S.
这些言论带有排他性倾向，对我这样的同性恋者而言尤其如此；它们所倡导的与美国结盟路线，与其说是为了阿尔伯塔省的利益，倒更像是要把该省变成美国的第51个州。
The social commentary feels exclusionary, especially as a gay man myself, and the choice to align with the U.S. felt more 51st state adjacent rather than pro-Alberta.
当然，并非所有领袖都是如此。基思·威尔逊阐述分离主义理念的方式有时能引起我的共鸣，尤其是当他谈及阿尔伯塔省民众面临的实际生活困境以及独立的经济必要性时。
Not all the leaders are like this. Keith Wilson articulates separatist thinking in a way that I can sometimes nod along with, especially when he’s talking about the material struggles of Albertans and the economic case for independence.
但总体而言，这些言论让我心存疑虑。我不确定大多数分离主义领袖是否真能引领这场运动。
But overall, these posts make me skeptical. I’m not sure I trust most of the separatist leaders to actually lead this movement.
10月19日会发生什么尚不可知。或许会有大量选民出于抗议目的而支持分离主义。但我敢打赌，即便支持维持现状的阵营获得压倒性胜利，也未必能平息关于阿尔伯塔省独立的讨论——这里的民怨之深，远远超出了愿意接受分离理念的人数规模。
I don’t know what will happen on Oct. 19. We might see a strong showing for separation simply as a protest vote. But I’ll bet even a strong showing for the remain side is not going to end talk of Alberta independence; the anger here is far larger than the people willing to entertain the idea of separation.
人们都在寻求希望；当我站在卡尔加里市中心，目睹周遭种种苦难时，我也在苦苦寻觅希望。
People are looking for hope, and when I’m standing in downtown Calgary, watching all this misery around me, I’m looking for hope, too.