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 Editorials | Environmental | September 2007 
Commission Throws Out Complaint Against Seal Hunt
 The Canadian Press
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| | Since the 1960s, opponents of the hunt have taken photographs and films of hunts in progress to substantiate their claims of cruelty; their activities have sometimes resulted in violent confrontations with hunters and arrest by Canadian authorities. |
Montreal - A North American environmental commission has dismissed an application by two Mexican animal-rights groups that say the seal hunt violates an international agreement on environmental protection.
A submission by the groups asserted that Ottawa is not enforcing its own laws with respect to the harp seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the Newfoundland and Labrador coast.
Specifically, they said Canada is not enforcing regulations prescribing the methods and instruments that are allowed to kill seals.
The Commission for Environmental Co-operation recently ruled that it couldn't consider the submission because it does not assert a failure to effectively enforce environmental law.
The commission was established by Canada, the United States and Mexico to address environmental issues, with a focus on those arising from the North American free-trade agreement.
Under its rules, anyone can submit a claim alleging that NAFTA countries have failed to effectively enforce environmental law.
In New York yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the annual seal hunt, saying it is "dedicated today to humane and regulated practices."
"The seal population is exploding in Canada - it's not an endangered species by any means," he said after a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Harper called the hunt "a small industry of animal husbandry."
"There is no reason to discriminate against it any more than any other industry of animal husbandry," he said. "We will not be bullied or blackmailed into forcing people out of that industry who depend on the livelihood based on things that are simply on stories and on allegations that are simply not true." |
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