Inuit Deliver Message on Seal Hunting Practices to European Parliament, Media, and IFAW

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Mary Simon delivered direct messages to Members of the European Parliament, to media covering the European Parliament, and to an official of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) today in Brussels.

At the Canadian Embassy, as part of a delegation of Canadian officials in Europe visiting capital cities, Mary Simon told the media and, later parliamentarians, that the 1980s European ban on Canadian seal products devastated the Inuit economy.

“Our economy was wrecked at the time,” said Mary Simon. “The proposed exemption for the Inuit seal pelts in Belgium won’t work. Nobody distinguishes between seal pelts caught in the East Coast seal hunt, and the ringed seals caught by Inuit. Our economy, and our way of life took a direct hit from that ban in the 1980s. We don’t want that to happen again.”

Mary Simon also noted that Inuit have a constitutional right to hunt seals, by virtue of the fact that Inuit have signed five comprehensive land claim agreements between 1975 and 2006. “Seal hunting is an intrinsic part of our way of life,” said Mary Simon. “It provides food, clothing, cultural and economic sustenance, and commercial interests. Selling pelts is a by-product of our subsistence hunt. We have no intention of stopping our traditional seal hunting practices.”

In a meeting with an official from the International Fund from Animal Welfare (IFAW), Simon indicated that if fellow Inuit were present, they would likely leave the room because the IFAW position is in direct contradiction with the Inuit way of life. IFAW stated it had no intention of issuing a news release admitting some of the photographs they currently use in fundraising campaign literature is out of date – particularly the portrayal that the white coat is still hunted, as well as the use of incorrect facts, and unpublished research relating to the seal hunt.

Earlier in the day, the delegation held a press conference to set the record straight on the facts of the modern seal hunting practices in Canada, both in the case of the Inuit – who hunt seals year around – and east coast sealers, who hunt during a specific time of the year towards the end of March.

The mission continues to London on Tuesday, March 27, 2007.