Thank you for taking the time to write to me and for your interest in the work of Senators and the Senate of Canada. As a Canadian senator, I have examined the issue of the seal hunt closely with an objective eye. I DO support a sustainable and humane seal hunt and I will NOT be supporting Senator Harb’s Bill.
Canada’s seal hunt is both humane and sustainable and those people who oppose this hunt need to hear the facts. Studies done by the World Wildlife Fund and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association have shown that that hunt can be performed in a humane way and the regulations that govern the hunt follow the recommendations of those reports.
Canada's sealing industry is heavily regulated, much like other agricultural industries (for example, cattle processing plants). These regulations are in place to ensure that the sealing industry is sustainable, humane, and commercially viable.
Furthermore, regulation also ensures that the traditional way of life for Canada's coastal communities is protected; the thousands of Canadians throughout the North, the Atlantic Provinces and Quebec who depend on the sealing industry for their livelihood can continue to do so for generations to come. In particular, some Aboriginal communities depend on the seal hunt not just for food but also for fuel and clothing. As such, the long term sustainability of the seal herd is a matter of life or death to some communities.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been monitoring the seal herd since the 1970's to ensure that it continues to thrive along Canada's East Coast. Studies have shown that in the last thirty years the size of the seal population in Canada has grown from 2 million seals to over 5.5 million seals. Successive governments have also put regulations in place to govern the seal hunt that take into consideration the recommendations given to it by the World Wildlife Fund and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. Even the leading international environmental organization, Greenpeace, has said that the harvest of seals under Canadian management poses no risk to the herd’s sustained viability.
Often, the images that are used of the seal hunt are out of date and pre-date current regulations. I encourage you to ensure that the images are in fact real and not “doctored” to suit the purposes of some organizations that consistently provide false and misleading information. However, I cannot stress enough that:
1. The killing of seal pups is illegal and has been so since the late 1980's;
2. The Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing studied the methods used to kill the animals and found that the methods used are comparable to the methods used to kill poultry or cattle by commercial slaughterhouses; and
3. Sealers are well trained in humane hunting methods and are largely responsible and law-abiding hunters.
Regulations and licensing policies are in place which monitors hunting seasons, quotas, vessel size and method of dispatch. Sealers who do not follow the rules are subject to criminal charges.
I would encourage you to engage in an open and honest dialogue on controversial topics such as the seal hunt. It is in this spirit that I would urge you to take a look at the website for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/).
Once again, thank you for taking the time to write to me. I hope that you continue your interest in the protection of our wildlife and I hope that I may have provided some insight into this topic. However, I will re-iterate that I will continue to support a balanced and sustainable approached to the seal hunt and I will continue to work hard to ensure the hunt is conducted in a safe and humane manner.
Yours sincerely,
The Honourable Terry M. Mercer
Senator (Northend Halifax, Nova Scotia)
About Me
- Shiananda
- Peace and Love For All Animals. Let us create earth the way the divine plan was intended. All life once lived in Eden, humans have created Hell. We can exchange hell for heaven with each simple action we take, each inspiration we evoke, each pleasure we ensure is not at the expense of another.