The Seal Hunt Shame.
There are no photos today, as this is a day of shame, sorrow and mourning for all Canadians.
As our Prime Minister, newly elected Steven Harper, lightly dismisses the seal hunt as "a bit of bad publicity" against Canada the rest of the world, including most Canadians, are appalled and painfully observing the massacre, their hands tied behind their backs.
How can we Canadians stand as the great peacekeepers of the world and allow such violence at home? What has gone so wrong with our democracy that our government condones acts that repulse the great majority of Canadians in effect rendering us victims of ourselves?
In a truly democratic society, the government is but a society's executive arm that puts into effect our wishes. And what kind of society do Canadians want? A peaceful, rational, open and free society, by all accounts. We cannot have the right arm engaged in peacekeeping while the left is clubbing baby animals.
While the market for fur is dwindling all over the world, (Will anyone really still conscientiously wear seal fur?) the Canadian Government, our left arm, is busy funding the development of seal fur markets (http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/fdp/ProjectReports/fdp_122-241.pdf ) and research on establishing the health benefits of ingesting seal oil to capitalize on the blind and frenzied alternative health market (http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/FDP/ProjectReports/fdp_204.htm ), under the Fisheries Diversification Program. (http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2001/fishaq/1130n01.htm )
I wonder what part of the 10 million dollars allocated to this portion of the Economic Agreement between Canada and Newfoundland has been allocated to these two projects and others, designed to further develop the exploitation of seals?
There are those who believe that seals are the cause of the depletion of our cod stocks. To those I say: The seals were there when the white man first appeared on our shores and these very men reported that the waters were thick with cod then. The seals and the cod were cohabitating harmoniously for thousands of years before we arrived. The nasty predator has been man who commercializes and exploits everything to exhaustion. By the time our Government began to limit cod fishing within our off shore territory, the cod stock was already so badly depleted that it is now said to be beyond recovery.
The seals eat cod as the lion eats antelope but neither has ever over hunted for pleasure, for trophy or for fur. Man alone has done this and man alone is the cause of the extinction of so many species, through greed and wreckless behaviour.
Yes, we kill cows and chicken to eat and much has been exposed there to put doubt about the way this is done. However, the great majority of seal that are killed are babies killed for their fur, their skinned bodies tossed back into the sea. Wearing fur today, unless you are an Inuit living in the Great North, is absurd and barbaric. Can you see the blood pouring from these coats?
We are making a spectacle of ourselves by allowing this massacre year after year and by not demonstrating the willingness (or ability) to adopt more civilized pursuits. If multiculturalism, tolerance and pacifism are a reflection of who we are, allowing the mindless, uncivilized hunt of baby seals goes against what we believe is right in our hearts.
It is time for us to stand together against what our government is doing in our name. It is time for us to fund true diversification, away from seal hunting to activities that better represent our civilization and us. Would not our money be better used to fund the development of tourism around the birth of the seals, such a magnificent celebration of life?
As our Prime Minister, newly elected Steven Harper, lightly dismisses the seal hunt as "a bit of bad publicity" against Canada the rest of the world, including most Canadians, are appalled and painfully observing the massacre, their hands tied behind their backs.
How can we Canadians stand as the great peacekeepers of the world and allow such violence at home? What has gone so wrong with our democracy that our government condones acts that repulse the great majority of Canadians in effect rendering us victims of ourselves?
In a truly democratic society, the government is but a society's executive arm that puts into effect our wishes. And what kind of society do Canadians want? A peaceful, rational, open and free society, by all accounts. We cannot have the right arm engaged in peacekeeping while the left is clubbing baby animals.
While the market for fur is dwindling all over the world, (Will anyone really still conscientiously wear seal fur?) the Canadian Government, our left arm, is busy funding the development of seal fur markets (http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/fdp/ProjectReports/fdp_122-241.pdf ) and research on establishing the health benefits of ingesting seal oil to capitalize on the blind and frenzied alternative health market (http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/FDP/ProjectReports/fdp_204.htm ), under the Fisheries Diversification Program. (http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2001/fishaq/1130n01.htm )
I wonder what part of the 10 million dollars allocated to this portion of the Economic Agreement between Canada and Newfoundland has been allocated to these two projects and others, designed to further develop the exploitation of seals?
There are those who believe that seals are the cause of the depletion of our cod stocks. To those I say: The seals were there when the white man first appeared on our shores and these very men reported that the waters were thick with cod then. The seals and the cod were cohabitating harmoniously for thousands of years before we arrived. The nasty predator has been man who commercializes and exploits everything to exhaustion. By the time our Government began to limit cod fishing within our off shore territory, the cod stock was already so badly depleted that it is now said to be beyond recovery.
The seals eat cod as the lion eats antelope but neither has ever over hunted for pleasure, for trophy or for fur. Man alone has done this and man alone is the cause of the extinction of so many species, through greed and wreckless behaviour.
Yes, we kill cows and chicken to eat and much has been exposed there to put doubt about the way this is done. However, the great majority of seal that are killed are babies killed for their fur, their skinned bodies tossed back into the sea. Wearing fur today, unless you are an Inuit living in the Great North, is absurd and barbaric. Can you see the blood pouring from these coats?
We are making a spectacle of ourselves by allowing this massacre year after year and by not demonstrating the willingness (or ability) to adopt more civilized pursuits. If multiculturalism, tolerance and pacifism are a reflection of who we are, allowing the mindless, uncivilized hunt of baby seals goes against what we believe is right in our hearts.
It is time for us to stand together against what our government is doing in our name. It is time for us to fund true diversification, away from seal hunting to activities that better represent our civilization and us. Would not our money be better used to fund the development of tourism around the birth of the seals, such a magnificent celebration of life?
posted by .abc. at Sunday, March 26, 2006
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home