NUNAVUT
Nunavut MP and federeal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq is asking CBC's Don Cherry to make a public apology after he called his Coach's Corner co-host Ron MacLean a "barbarian" and a "savage" for eating seal meat during a live broadcast of the show on Feb. 7.
Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq shows off her sealskin mitts outside the legislative assembly in Yellowknife on Feb. 9. Aglukkaq is calling on Coach's Corner's Don Cherry to make a public apology after he called his co-host Ron MacLean a “barbarian” and a “savage” for eating seal meat. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
Cherry's comments sparked a public outcry with some going so far as to suggest that the longtime host of the Hockey Night In Canada segment be fired.
Aglukkaq was one of many who took to Twitter and asked that Cherry apologize for his comments. The seal-clad minister was in Yellowknife to announce funding for an NWT Tourism initiative, after which she reiterated her request in an interview with Nunavut News/North.
"His comments were very hurtful and not sensitive at all to many Canadians that (have) depended on that industry for thousands of years," she told Nunavut News/North, sporting both a pair of sealskin kamiik and gloves.
"I asked that he should retract and apologize and learn - learn about the Inuit culture of Canada."
While Aglukkaq was being interviewed, Sahtu MLA Norman Yakelaya stood up in the legislative assembly and requested that Premier Bob McLeod seek an official apology from Cherry for his "racist and derogatory" comments.
Premier Bob McLeod responded by saying he would contact the local fur industry and consider drafting a letter to the CBC.
Early last week, Cherry took to Twitter to explain himself, but stopped short of an apology.
"Evidently I upset some people about my seal burger comments," the Coach's Corner host wrote. "I have no problem with my friends who are hunters and eat venison and duck. Just the same, as I have no problem, with people who hunt seals and seal meat.
"I do however find it very unusual, in my world, that a person would go into a restaurant and order a seal burger for lunch."
CBC's media relations team did not respond to multiple requests for an interview with Cherry.
Less than a week before landing in Yellowknife, Aglukkaq was in Ottawa for the third annual Seal Day on the Hill event which seeks to raise awareness and promote the importance of the sealing industry to communities across Canada.
Aglukkaq said Nunavut is still having to fight to undo the harm that environmental groups who have spoken out against the seal hunt have had on the industry.
"(Northerners) depend on the wildlife, whether that be the seal or the caribou or the polar bear, just like you as a southerner depend on your cow and your pig and your lamb," she said.
Aglukkaq said comments from a figure like Cherry are particularly damaging because CBC is a public broadcaster.
"I think CBC folks should really take the opportunity to learn about Canadian folks that depend on this industry," she said. "CBC is paid by Canadian taxpayers and Inuit are taxpayers and that's on their coin that he's spreading this kind of stuff."
McLeod meanwhile had some advice to Northerners who watch Hockey Night In Canada: "Every time (Cherry) comes on,
turn your TV off."
