"We're pretty excited," said Roy Inglangasuk, executive director of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada. "We've been lobbying long and hard for this."

Inglangasuk said the agreement means the people who trap furs for a living can continue to market their products in Europe, "It's our biggest market," he said.

"I think it is very positive," said David Hutton, director of the EU division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa. He said that Canada exports between $15 million and $25 million worth of furs to Europe each year.

This agreement calls for the phasing out of any traps that don't kill an animal within a designated time frame or inflict unnecessary harm.

Unpadded leg-hold traps will be illegal after Jan. 1, 2000, with the exception of traps set underwater. Padded leg-hold models and the quick-kill traps will be permitted.

There aren't many types of leg-hold traps in use at the present, and Canada has taken a leading role in the development of more humane traps.

At a research centre in Vegreville, Alta., Environment Canada, the International Fur Trade Federation and the Fur Institute of Canada, work to stay on the cutting edge of new humane trapping technologies.

The centre will play a major role in the development and distribution of new traps in the coming years, as the deadline to phase out inhumane traps approaches.

The ITC admits the time-frame won't be easy to meet, but is confident of meeting the schedule. "I think we're all committed to the development of humane traps," said Inglangasuk.

The Metis Nation is fairly pleased with the agreement and the standards laid out in the agreement, but vows to make European countries pay attention to what is going on in their own back yard.

"Now the Europeans will have to meet the same standards that they want for other countries. For years now the Europeans have been attacking other countries over how they treat animals, while completely ignoring inhumane practices that continue in Europe," Metis Nation president Gary Bohnet said in a press release.

According to the Metis Nation, Dutch citizens kill 300,000 to 400,000 muskrats each year, using methods that Canadian trappers find abhorrent, before throwing the animals away as pests.

"It's not just an agreement for Canada," said Bill Carpenter, environmental director of the Metis Nation. "The Europeans will have to abide by this agreement as well.'

If disputes arise, a mechanism has been included to deal with them. Any dispute between signatories that isn't resolved within 90 days will go to arbitrator, who will have the final decision on the issue.

While the agreement has yet to be officially signed, there are no fears that any of the parties involved will renege. They have been working since 1991 to reach this point.

Inglangasuk joked that the people in the ITC office were so overjoyed, that the people on the floor below theirs told them to quiet down.