The war of words between Canada and the European Union escalated recently when the Canadian governor general gutted a seal and then ate its heart. When asked to comment, an official European Union spokesperson declared that the events were ‘too bizarre to merit a response’. It remains to be seen how the European Union will respond to such a flagrant affront, but if I were a betting man I would soon expect to see a maple tree massacre on the pages of Le Monde.

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The European Union Parliament recently voted overwhelmingly to ban the importation of all seal products from Canada, as a protest to Canada’s widely criticised seal hunts.

For those of you who don’t know, every spring Canada opens its hunting season on seals, with an annual quota of 350,000 animals. The seals are then brutally slain by fishermen brandishing nail boards. Adding to the barbarism, the seals targeted are the baby seals as they have a white coat which can be used for fur products. The official claim is that the hunt helps subsidize off-season fishermen’s income and therefore is important to the country’s economy. But the truth is, fishermen in Canada receive less than 2% of their yearly income from the hunts.

It remains to be seen whether the EU ban on seal products will have any effect on Canada’s longstanding tradition. However, it is a step in the right direction.

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