IQALUIT
A little more than $91,000 in new funding was announced last week to expand the Northern fur market.

Leanne Niziol models Northern fur for international delegates at the 2014 Wild Fur Fashion Show held in conjunction with the recent meeting of Arctic Council in Yellowknife last week. All levels of government are involved in trying to restore the Northern fur market. - Walter Strong/NNSL

The announcement comes shortly after Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq's return from the Hague where she spoke on behalf of Canada’s application before the World Trade Organization appellate board to have a 2009 European Union ban on Canadian seal fur products overturned.

A judgment is expected early this spring, but at the time Aglukkaq said all levels of government would work to expand the Canadian seal market regardless of the eventual WTO decision.

The funding announced March 24 includes $51,200 from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor). The Government of Nunavut and the GNWT have each contributed $7,300 to the project, while the North Bay, Ontario-based Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. contributed $25,400.

The money is specifically earmarked for developing the seal fur market in China and Turkey.

"Our government recognizes the importance of a sustainable and diversified economy," said Aglukkaq. "These investments to market ... will help increase local participation in the fur industry, creating jobs and prosperity for Northerners."

Fur Harvesters Auction is the only trapper-owned and operated fur auction house in the world. The company supports the small Nunavut and NWT wild fur market though workshops, international marketing and fur auctioning.

“We’ve been working with Nunavut for several years now promoting their seal and wild fur,” said Fur Harvesters’ director of planning and development Howard Noseworthy. “Prices have increased for the most part, but unfortunately not for seal.”

Following the EU ban on importing Canadian seal products, and despite an exemption for indigenous seal product, Nunavut sealers have lost half the value of their product. From a pre-EU ban high of a little more than $70 per pelt, Nunavut sealskins were being sold for less than $20 per pelt in 2011, according to a Nunavut Government publication.

Fur Harvesters will be promoting Nunavut seal at two upcoming auctions in Helsinki, Finland, but the the EU ban limits what they can do because.

“We can’t actually bring the sealskins there to sell them,” Noseworthy said. “But it doesn’t stop us from promoting them.”

Other markets outside of the EU show promise. Fur Harvesters will be showcasing Nunavut product in Bejing and Istanbul.

“One of the reasons Istanbul is interesting is because they have something of a history working with sealskin,” Noseworthy said. “Maybe not ring seal from Nunavut as much, but because of their experience, we thought we’d try to promote the product there.”

Nunavut ring seal fur is not as well-known internationally as Canada’s harp seal. Difficulties marketing Nunavut seal product has been compounded by the EU ban. The negative connotations that come with a ban -- as well as the physical limitations to marketing the product -- means that demand has dropped. With the drop in demand comes a decline in production.

“One issue around Nunavut ring seals, is that the production is rather low compared to historical levels,” Noseworthy explained. “It’s the chicken and egg thing. If the skins were worth more, there would be more of an effort expended in getting more skins to market.”

According to statistics published by the Government of Nunavut, approximately 30,000 ring-seals are harvested each year in Nunavut from a ring-seal population of between approximately 1.5 and 3 million animals. The primary function of the harvest is for food and clothing, but a healthy international fur market supplements sparse income opportunities associated with traditional lifestyles.

Three years before the ban officially came into effect, Nunavut sealing generated $500,000 in revenue for local economies through a government-led sealskin buying program. By 2011, total revenue had declined to around $60,000.

The community of Pangnirtung, one of Nunavut’s top sealskin producing communities, saw an even greater decline in revenue than the territorial average. In 2005, the market value of their seal harvest was $138,000. In 2010, it was only $11,811. The decline in value was price related. Pangnirtung seal harvest levels remained essentially unchanged during that time.

“As long as there is a production out of Nunavut, we’ll try to find a market,” Noseworthy added.