Environment

Canadian lawmakers eat seal

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Canadian lawmakers sat down to eat seal meat as a show of support for Canada’s seal hunters in the face of a European ban on seal products. Anchor David Baron speaks with the Canadian senator who organized the lunch, Celine Hervieux-Payette of the Liberal Party.

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DAVID BARON:  There was something unusual on the menu this week in CANADA, seal meat, with a side of politics. The seal meat was served to Canadian lawmakers in Parliament. They dined on a lunch featuring bacon-wrapped seal loin in a port reduction. The event was a show of support for Canada’s seal hunters, in the face of a European ban on seal products. Senator CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE from Canada’s Liberal Party organized the lunch and she joins us from Toronto. Senator, why serve seal meat for lunch?

CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE:  First of all, to demonstrate that there is use of the whole of the animal. It’s an ecology decision saying that we will recuperate as much as we can. So the left over, what we’re going to throw away will be minimal. And in this case, we use the skin, we use the fat, and we use the meat. We eat it in Quebec, my province, for over 20 years.

DAVID BARON:  Well as you say though, for many Canadians, this is not typically on the menu. And in fact, one of the guests at yesterday’s luncheon, Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff, he was quoted saying that the meat was “A little gamy, like caribou or something.” It doesn’t sound like a rave.

CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE:  This is maybe an acquired taste. It’s a different color from the regular meat. It’s much darker, it’s almost black. And what doesn’t taste too good in seal is the fat. So we don’t have it at all with what we ate yesterday. I had over 20 parliamentarians attending, and nobody left anything in their plate. So, I figured out that they were not all sacrificing themselves. It was very tasty.

DAVID BARON:  And yet last year, the European Union, as I stated earlier, adopted a ban on seal products, and Canada is hoping to overturn that ban. So was this an attempt somehow to sway the EU?

CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE:  Oh I think it’s just to give them the information of what’s going on here, because actually we want to help these people to make a living out of their trade. We want them to develop more product. So, I mean, if it’s done properly, I don’t see why there should be any complaints. And in the case of, I would call the other kind of hunt that’s taking place, whether it’s bore, whether it’s deer in Europe, tell me what they’re doing with the skin, tell me what they’re doing with the meat. Very often it’s a sport, and nobody’s using it.

DAVID BARON:  The seal hunt in Canada has been targeted for quite some time. Animal rights activists call the hunt barbaric. The seals are out on the pack ice where they can’t even swim away. The hungers will bludgeon them with this claw shaped tool called a hack pick. Now, if the EU agrees with these activists, and considers this hunt unethical, why shouldn’t the EU ban the products from Canada’s hunt?

CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE:  There is nobody in the scientific community that would say and confirm what the lobbyists have shown to the public. I mean, they’re still showing images that were taken over 20 years ago, because we banned the white coat seal hunting in 1987.

DAVID BARON:  Well, let’s point–

CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE:  [OVERLAPPING] It’s misinformation.

DAVID BARON:  Well, let’s just point that out that these are the harp seals and the baby harp seals with the white fur. They used to be hunted in Canada, that did cause a great outcry internationally. The babies are no longer hunted, is that correct?

CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE:  Yeah, but actually, you know, it’s as if you were telling me that we cannot eat veal. I can tell you that in Italy, they eat veal before even it’s born. So, I saw the concern, if you go to a slaughter house, you will not see a very romantic scene. Killing animals, I mean, is certainly something that we do for a living, but it’s not very nice images. This can I see, but it is used to raise money, and as far as I’m concerned, what they’re doing, they are doing it properly according to our law, according to our regulations, and it’s very, very strictly monitored.

DAVID BARON:  Canadian Senator CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE hosted a seal-meat lunch yesterday at Canada’s Parliamentary cafeteria. She joined us from Toronto. Madame Senator Hervieux-Payette, thank you for your time.

CELINE HERVIEUX-PAYETTE:  My pleasure Mister Baron.

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