Published by Senator Charlie Watt on 18 March 2009
Re: “WTO Retaliation Threatened as EU Seal Ban Draws Closer,” March 4 (Embassy)
I am writing to you concerning the seal hunt. Let me begin by stating there are two primary types of seal hunting in Canada: traditional Inuit hunting (subsistence) and commercial.
As an Inuk Senator and hunter, my concerns are for the economic well-being of my people. Contrary to popular belief, when the Inuit harvest seals, we use the entire animal: we use the pelts for clothing, the meat for sustenance, and the oil is very valuable to us. We rely on the seal hunt as one of our food sources. In the north, pre-packaged food is a luxury that few of us can afford, so we harvest our food from the land and the sea.
We perceive the seals differently than people in the south. Some groups like to portray them as cute, blue eyed animals with a playful character, but to us, they are the wild dogs of the sea and they are direct competitors for food. Seals, like humans, hunt fish. In areas prolific with seals, our ability to feed ourselves is greatly diminished.
Inuit hunters are few in number. We catch the seals and process them in the ocean and along the shore. The meat that we collect goes into the community freezer and is used to feed the less fortunate in our communities. This is our traditional way. As Inuk-Canadians we also believe we are keeping the ecosystem in balance – if we let the seal population get out of control – we might not have anything left for ourselves. This is a real threat. Since quotas on the harp seals were introduced, their number has tripled.
From an economic perspective, the commercial seal hunt is our main industry and the only source of income for many Inuit. In order to make up the volume that we need for our Inuit commercial hunt, we rely on other non-Inuit hunters to supplement our catch. We also rely on the Newfoundlanders to harvest the harp seals when they are migrating. This is a seasonal activity.
We appreciate the understanding of the European Community in their attempts to exclude the Inuit from their ban on the subsistence hunt. Nevertheless this is not the issue – we are concerned about the commercial hunt. We market our product abroad, and internationally. We rely on the sale of our pelts and by-products. We need this industry for our economic survival.
We strongly support the commercial hunt in Canada and we continue to support our brothers in Newfoundland and the lower St Laurence.
Nakurmiik,
Honourable Charlie Watt, Senator