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Angry over ban

Jillian Dickens
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Jan 23/06) - Pangnirtung seal hunter Noah Metuq is calling on the Greenland government to "do its homework" instead of banning imports of all Canadian sealskins.

NNSL Photo/graphic

Seal hunters in Nunavut, including Teddy and Terry Eleehetook of Gjoa Haven, were lumped in with hunters from Labrador in a ban on sealskins in Greenland. At least one hunter says this ban, even if it is temporary, shouldn't have included Inuit hunters. - photo courtesy of Louie Kamookak

Earlier this month, Greenland imposed the ban saying Labrador sealers use inhumane harvesting techniques like clubbing seals and skinning them alive.

If that's the reason, Metuq wonders why Nunavut was included.

"We shoot (seals) with a high calibre rifle and a scope. We don't use that (clubbing) method here."

Metuq adds that Pangnirtung hunters, like most Nunavummiut, use every part of the animal they hunt.

"We don't just kill for the fur, but we eat the meat too. It saves a lot of money on groceries."

Metuq says pretty much everybody he knows are either full-time or part-time hunters of caribou, fish, polar bear and seals. He says 60 per cent of the Pang hunters sell sealskin commercially.

"If they stop buying the pelts completely it will impact on my family's income. I use seal income for groceries, fuel, bills. This will do a lot of economical damage here."

Sealers sell their pelts to the wildlife offices in their respective communities. A small pelt goes for about $30 and a large pelt will make the hunter upwards of $60 to $70.

Last year, Metuq estimates Pang sealers sold an average of 40 to 50 pelts each.

"We don't know exactly how many skins go to each country and it varies from year to year. Sometimes even the agents and buyers at auction don't know the final destination of the skins," said Craig Welsch, communications officer with the department of Environment.

"In 2003-04, Danish agents bought about 40 per cent of the skins. If you pick a price of $70 a skin and they bought about 3,000 of them, that's about $200,000. But these numbers can fluctuate quite a bit."

Other countries which buy seal skins include Russia, China, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Greenland government spokesperson Ole Heynych says Nunavut sealers can relax, because the ban is only a temporary situation meant as a political statement against the way some sealers in Canada practise their trade.

However, he would not disclose when the ban would end.

Environment minister Olayuk Akesuk is travelling to Greenland on Tuesday to speak with that country's Minister of Fishing and Hunting specifically about the sealing issue.

"On our side in Nunavut, we are trying to educate people on how we harvest our seals and how the meat from the seals goes on the table," said Akesuk.

"I thought we had that clear, but I guess the animal activists are strong in Europe."

Akesuk didn't want to comment on Greenland's stance that the ban is a political statement until after the two governments meet next week.

However, he did say that preserving Nunavut's culture is a priority.

"We don't want to show Greenpeace is winning over our culture."

He added that Greenland's culture is similar to Nunavut's, including its sealing techniques.

"We are going to hurt the culture and economy if we start doing this to the two islands across from each other."