Stephen Harper celebrates Canada's gruesome seal slaughter

by Stephen Hui on Feb 2, 2012 at 3:35 pm
As Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq looks on, Prime Minister Stephen Harper receives a sealskin notebook from Rankin Inlet mayor Pujjuut Kusugak to mark "Seal Day on the Hill".
Jason Ransom/PMO

Prime Minister Stephen Harper deemed fit to hold today (February 2) a media event in Ottawa in order to trumpet his Conservative government's support for the bloody massacre known as the Canadian seal hunt.

According to a news release from the Prime Minister's Office, seal pins were given to all MPs and senators by the Nunavut government and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association in celebration of "Seal Day on the Hill".

Harper states in the release:

Our Government is firmly committed to defending the legitimate economic activities of Canadians. Canada’s sealing industry sustains thousands of Northern and East Coast jobs and the traditional way of life of a number of Aboriginal groups in our country. Our Government will continue to vigorously defend this humane and highly regulated industry and to seek new international markets for Canadian seal products, including China.

But the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which works to end the seal hunt, says the government needs to get its head out of its ass and prepare for the "inevitable failure" of an embattled industry in decline.

Sheryl Fink, director of IFAW’s Seal Program, states in a news release:

Photo opportunities on Parliament Hill will get politicians in the news, but they will not help sealers. Challenging the EU ban at the WTO will make trade lawyers rich, but it will not help sealers. And continuing to subsidize an economically unviable industry with no future will cost Canadian taxpayers, but it will not help sealers.

Here's a reminder of what Harper is celebrating, through photos and video of the 2011 seal hunt from IFAW.

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Comments (21) Add New Comment
hAYOKA
Feb 2, 2012 at 5:06 pm
It is the pinnacle of ignorance
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Canadian Xpat
Feb 2, 2012 at 9:23 pm
There is no difference between using seal products and cow based products. I am sure many of the straight's readers have leather jackets... The only difference between a factory abatoire and the pictures above is that there are pictures above and that the conditions above are probably more sanitary. The EU's position on seal products is a complete double standard especially as the seal hunt is supported by the World Wild Life Federation. I am a meat eater, who uses animal products and I am not going to pretend that this is any different.... its simply visible and a typical case of specious outrage on a wedge issue.
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Tyler
Feb 2, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Our government makes me ashamed to be Canadian.
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BikerCK
Feb 2, 2012 at 10:24 pm
If we were truly concerned about our environment we would see the value of fur as a renewable resource and the dead baby seals as food for other creatures. Instead, people in fossil-fuel based Gore-tex coats will tut-tut over a cup of coffee in a disposable paper cup and wonder what's wrong with people. The answer being of course, we are complete hypocrites whenever our creature comforts run up against ecologically sensible decisions and I include myself in that harsh criticism.
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Bill Barilko
Feb 2, 2012 at 11:08 pm
I see nothing morally repugnant about killing animals and using them to clothe and feed ourselves-it was ever thus.
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Coast Guarder
Feb 3, 2012 at 12:57 am
Bill Barillko - using animals for food and clothing is one thing, I do both and would not judge someone else who did. what is morally repugnant though is the vicious and wanton manner in which the seal slaughter is carried out. there is something very wrong with anyone who is an advocate of animals left to slowly die in pain and agony or being hooked through the face and then dragged along beside a boat. there is no justifiable reason to take a pup away from its mother and toss it aside before bashing the mother's skull in and removing her skin. and just because something has been done for a long time doesn't mean it is proper, moral or positive in anyway. the commercial seal hunt is a nasty and brutal throwback and has no place in Canada today. I hate Stephen Harper and everything that doughy piece of trash stands for. this just reinforces what I already know.
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Fuvoted Forthisidiot
Feb 3, 2012 at 6:20 am
To maintain status quo on the rate of harvest would've been acceptable. But to aggressively promote this "industry" to new international markets is crazy.....and pushed by our government?? They'll need to buy an industrial-sized grinder to shove the seals through once it peaks China's interest.
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Halv
Feb 3, 2012 at 7:33 am
The commercial seal hunt is about politics and politics alone. It is not about money because it doesn't make any. It's a massively subsidized, tax payer funded election issue for all parties. A suck up to the Maritimes while destroying Canada's international reputation. Blatant, horrific violence for an outdated and archaic fashion industry.

And to those who think animal products for clothing are good for the environment, time to do some research. Why do you think that dead body you are wearing isn't rotting away? The process of tanning, dying, bleaching, etc is incredibly bad for the environment, especially our waterways. Not to mention the effect of slaughtering hundreds of thousands of animals who's natural habitat is melting away year after year.
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David in Nanaimo
Feb 3, 2012 at 9:17 am
Canadian Xpat, I think there's a difference between wild animals and farmed animals which only exist because their body products will eventually be used. I know there's terrible cruelty in the way farm chickens and pigs are treated, but the mass slaughter of helpless baby seals (aged 12 days and above) is a crime against nature which puts Canada in a bad light internationally. The seal hunt is a dying industry heavily subsidized by the federal government and I think it's time to put that money into compensating and retraining the sealers rather than throwing it away on WTO lawyers, trade missions, unnecessary icebreaker rescues, etc.
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thoughtsprovoker
Feb 3, 2012 at 1:13 pm
In light of the fact the Harper government has had to contend with struggling Northern communities, and the deteriorating conditions in which the people, and many First Nations families, have to live (an obvious political sore spot); in light of the fact the Harper government has pledged to uphold its conventional, highly conservative, economic viewpoint and unconditionally supports this industry despite having little economic bearing on Canada and despite international outcry; in light of the fact that the Harper government is constantly in election mode (supporting this industry in the North helps to buy votes in the North); this then highlights the fact that this is not an issue of morality or ethics for Harper's government. This is ultimately not about economics either. It is instead, about holding onto, sustaining, and growing the Harper government's power base, at all costs. Harper is shrewd, calculating, highly intelligent and has fallen deeply, madly in love with power.
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E. Denison
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:41 am
I would have hoped our Prime Minister representing us, would go to China and promote our numerous well-developed industries (cruel free unlike seal hunting) including telecommunications, digital media, renewable energy sector growing significantly we could be exporting wind turbines hourly to China, education, barley & canola (Alberta), countless other areas of science and technology. Other countries including even Russia have clearly stated clubbing an animal to death is inhumane and unacceptable, it has become socially stigmitizing and other first world nations want to distance themselves from the practice, Harper seems socially out of touch at best, not the best diplomat to be representing us, I don't see him as economically astute either, these sealers need retraining, the industry is done, and thankfully.
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monty/that'sme
Feb 4, 2012 at 7:11 am
There would be fewer problems for First Nations communities if the taxpayer money from the Department of Indian Affairs was equally distributed to all members. Think about this until you finally get it.

Harper is not well, He is so taken with self-agrandisement (that's also called an ego trip) that he has forgotten that we, the taxpayers, pay his salary. Time for a cross Canada revolt. NOW. Contact your MP.

The PM appears to have lost contact with reality: talking about cutting seniors pensions and sending oil to China without any
concern for environmental assessments (which may prove to be a hoax) in DAVOS, SWITZERLAND? Say what?

When Michael Moore was here last year he advised that in order to effect change you tell one friend, who tells another, and so on.

BTW, I notice you have some conservative acolytes spreading their gospel.
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Heartsick4U
Feb 4, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Please, Vancouver ... let's all discuss this issue like civilized people over a roast lamb dinner at Stephos!
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Marcus
Feb 4, 2012 at 10:00 pm
it's very difficult to be anything but a hypocrite when it comes to animal issues and being a hypocrite is not a such bad thing, not nearly as bad as supporting the systematic destruction of animals. Regardless whether or not the cruelty takes place in a factory farm or out in nature, speaking out against it is a positive thing. Practicing what you preach is of course very important and not so easy. What I'm saying is kudos to you if you care, and you could be wearing man made products and drinking out of paper cups, it doesn't matter every little bit of awareness is important.
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Marcus
Feb 4, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Bill Barilko - there may not be anything morally repugnant with people killing animals to use as food/clothing but what happens if all 7 billion of us decide we want to eat seals and clothe ourselves in their skin? The decimation of nature that's what. So we decide we'll create them in factories? Now we're feeding our food to this thing we've decided we want. It's not efficient, smart or nice.
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RonS
Feb 5, 2012 at 7:06 am
It's only fitting harper should be knee deep in blood. Look at other foreign policies of this CONServative government.
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Dude
Feb 5, 2012 at 7:16 pm
This is what's wrong with clubbing Seals...

(1) It is Industrial harvesting of WILD ANIMALS which damages the Eco System by disrupting the local Food Chain,

(2) It is highly SUBSIDIZED with Tax Payer Dollars so Political Parties can get one more Seat in the House of Commons,

(3) It is in effect Corporate Welfare,

(4) It damages the Canada Brand with vital markets,

(5) It makes Canada look stupid,

And it's fucking gross.
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Haywood
Feb 6, 2012 at 8:41 am
I like cheese
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Squeal
Feb 7, 2012 at 3:14 pm
So why don't they shoot them?
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ABO_MATTHEW
Feb 10, 2012 at 10:12 am
THESES PICTURES ONLY SHOW HOW SOME PEOPLE HUNT SEALS. IVE PERSONALLY KILLED SEALS AND THERE ISNT ANY PAIN WHEN THE SEALS HEAD IS BLOWN CLEAN OFF. WHEN A SEAL COMES OUT OF THE WATER, YOU CAN ONLY SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD... WHERE I COME FROM, WE HAVE RESPECT FOR THE ANIMALS WE HARVEST, AND UTILIZE EVERY PART OF IT.

P.S. BABY SEAL TASTES AMAZING WITH KETCHUP...
I THINK ANYONE WHO FINDS THIS HARD TO UNDERSTAND SHOULD DO SOME RESEARCH INTO THE MEAT AT THE GROCERY STORE AND VISIT A SLAUGHTERHOUSE. AND IF YOU STILL DONT UNDERSTAND THEN GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY BECAUSE THIS CERTAINLY ISNT YOURS.
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