The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to ban imports of seal products, including fur coats and even some omega-3 pills, in an effort to force Canada to end its annual seal hunt, the world’s largest.
The Canadian government reacted sharply to the move, with Trade Minister Stockwell Day promising that Ottawa will challenge the ban and take the 27-nation bloc to the world trade body if the new law does not exempt Canada.
The strain in relations came on the eve of a key summit between Canada and the EU in Prague where they are expected to launch negotiations on a wide-ranging free trade agreement.
The European Parliament voted to endorse a bill that said commercial seal hunting, notably in Canada, is “inherently inhumane.” EU governments still need to back the law, but officials called that a formality and said the ban is expected to take effect in October.
The EU ban will apply to all products and processed goods derived from seals, including their skins — which are used to make fur coats, bags and adorn clothing — as well as meat, oil blubber, organs and seal oil, which is used in some omega-3 pills.
Animal rights activists, Inuit seal hunters, fur traders and authorities from Canada and Greenland lobbied hard ahead of the vote. Activists call the hunt barbaric, while the others said it provided crucial jobs and food for villagers in isolated northern communities.
Canada’s East Coast seal hunt is the largest in the world, killing an average of 300,000 harp seals annually. The EU bill targeted the Canadian hunt because of the size of the annual slaughter and the way seals are killed — either clubbed or shot with rifles. In the past, they have also been killed with spiked clubs, or hakapiks.
Gail Shea, the Canadian minister of fisheries, called the EU parliament’s decision biased and insisted that Canada’s hunt was “guided by rigorous animal welfare principles.”
One-third of the world’s trade in seal products passes through EU countries. Last year, Canada exported seal products — pelts, meat and oils — worth around US$4.7 million to the EU.
Animal rights advocates were euphoric over the vote.
“[It’s] a historic victory ... to stop the commercial slaughter of seals around the world,” said Mark Glover, head of Humane Society International.
On the other side, Canadian fur traders and Inuit hunters who joined together in a failed effort to avert the ban urged Ottawa not to pursue new trade talks with the EU.
National Inuit leader Mary Simon said the vote will cause economic despair in native areas in Canada’s north and said the exemption for their communities will do little to help if the markets for seal products have been effectively destroyed.
“If there’s no market we can’t sell our products,” Simon said, adding that Inuit hunt seals for food, clothing and income. “It’s all tied together. If you can’t sell the product you’re not going to have an income and therefore you can’t buy the equipment to go hunting and it affects your food source.”
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