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Anti-Sealing Group Sports Blind Spokesperson

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The other day my eye came across an interesting article in a N.S. based newspaper, the Chronicle Herald. The story was about another recently formed anti-sealing group.

The interesting part, at least for me, was that this one is based out of Nova Scotia. The idea intrigued me to say the least but it was upon reading the content of the article that my bullshit meter really started ringing off the hook.

The writer seemed to relish the use of such catchy phrases as, “…Commercial sealers will have a new activist group nipping at their heels”. In fact he appeared to have taken like a duck to water with his task of promoting this group rather than in actually writing an article that attempted to report the facts of how misinformed they were. So much for unbiased journalism I guess.

According to the article this new group feels that the recent ruling by the EU not to ban seal products was misinterpreted by “The Newfoundland and federal governments”. The spokesperson said that in addition, her group would like, “…the federal and Newfoundland governments to provide assistance to those people living in outposts who are involved in the commercial sealing industry.” She also said that the group, “…is not against Canada’s northern Inuit population hunting seals, but rather the herds being harvested as a commercial venture.”

Oh my, where do I begin? Probably by informing this person that the term used when referring to small towns along the Newfoundland coast is “Outports”, not “Outposts”. A small and petty point I know but a valid one none the less. It just bugs the crap out of me when these people pretend to know what they’re talking about. It’s like when seal activist and drama queen Rebecca Aldsworth goes on and on about how she knows the truth of sealing because she’s from outport Newfoundland. At least she got the term “outport” correct even if she actually grew up and went to school in the heart of St. John’s, a city where she’d have been far more likely to be exposed to the George Street bar scene than an actual seal hunt. But I digress.

On a more serious note, first and foremost it might do this misguided soul in Nova Scotia a world of good to realize that Nova Scotians also participate in the annual seal hunt, not just Newfoundlanders. Somehow she seems to have missed this fact even while living in their midst. It makes me wonder if she has some sort of vision problem.

Seriously, since she is based out of Nova Scotia, this might be the best place for her group to start making demands and protesting the issue. Once she’s closed the seal harvest in Nova Scotia then maybe she can consider moving further a field. Her group had better watch out for those pesky Nova Scotia sealers though. I heard one on the radio just the other day complaining that the seal quota for his province was far too low and should be increased.

The next major problem I have is the fact that this group is not opposed to the Inuit hunt, just the commercial one. I wonder, do they actually think that the Inuit dress themselves in seal hides on a regular basis and dance around the ice floes all day long? The fact of the matter is that her supposed support of an Inuit hunt and her damnation of a commercial one is pure hypocrisy. The statement is simply an attempt to ensure that nobody accuses her group of stepping on any sensitive toes when it comes to being politically or culturally correct. Here’s news flash lady. There is no such thing as a commercial hunt and an Inuit hunt. They are essentially one in the same. It’s just a matter of distribution of the resource. For all intents and purposes they are the same hunt.

The Inuit sell their products to the same buyers as everyone else. They don’t label them “Inuit furs” and they don’t use the hide to spruce up their summer wardrobe or build their humble abodes. IInstead they use the revenues from the hunt, just like sealers everywhere else, to pay for food, light bills, mortgages, gasoline, auto insurance and a whole host of mundane things. The truth is that if the commercial hunt were stopped and markets were closed the Inuit hunters, just like any other hunter, would be S#@T out of luck. That’s why so many Inuit have supported the commercial hunt in the past. It doesn’t matter if you are an Anglo Saxon from Nova Scotia, a Quebecois, ticked off Newfoundlander or a northern Inuit.

There are a lot of things that bother me when it comes to these self appointed guardians of the poor beleaguered seal and at the top of that list is how little they actually know about the issue. I’d like to suggest that if this newest group really wants to make a difference they start by becoming informed of the facts. Then if they still feel the way they do now they should try to address the issue right there at home in Nova Scotia before setting their sights farther out to sea.

By Myles Higgins

@ February 5, 2007