OTTAWA - Nunavut Sivuniksavut students went to Parliament Hill last week to voice their concerns over the possible ban of seal products by European countries.

'We want to educate fellow Canadians about the importance of seal hunting to Inuit, and how the ban will affect our culture,' said student Kerry Tattuinee of Rankin Inlet.

Cloud-filled skies and 20 km/h winds didn't dampen the spirits of the Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) students.

In the hours leading up to their demonstration at Parliament Hill, the students brainstormed how they could emphasize the importance of the sealing industry for Inuit on fluorescent, bristol-board signs.

This is the third time in recent years that NS students have protested against the anti-sealing groups.

Students gathered on the grounds of Parliament Hill with several other Inuit fully clad in beautiful sealskin garments, along with people representing Newfoundland sealers.

With their message and their throat singing and dancing, NS students attracted media attention. They also held a fashion show to showcase traditional and modern sealskin clothing, and its importance in today's Inuit economy.

Paul Suvega of Iqaluit attended the rally. He works for the Government of Nunavut, but was there as an individual, not a government official.

'I'm here to support Inuit,' said Suvega. 'We're Inuit, we hunt seals, we've hunted seals for thousands of years and we're going to keep hunting seals for millennia.'

The European Economic Community (EEC) banned the importation of sealskin pelts for two years in 1983, collapsing the Canadian seal economy and devastating the livelihood of many Inuit hunters.

Recent attempts by Europeans to reduce the market for seal pelts could replicate the crash of the seal hunting industry seen in the 1980s.

'It went better then I thought it would, because there was a lot of people there to support seal hunting, and that made our voice stronger,' said NS student and protestor Karen Flaherty, a student from Iqaluit.

- Jeela Maniapik is a first-year Nunavut Sivuniksavut student in Ottawa. She is originally from Pangnirtung