The president of one of Newfoundland and Labrador's largest unions stated that media and animal rights activists have influenced Canadians against the Atlantic seal hunt through “indoctrination.”.“It was all crushed,” Greg Pretty, president of the 14,000-member Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union, told the Senate Fisheries committee..“We had the products, we had the beautiful coats, you name it, we had it,” testified Pretty. .“We had seal oil. We did all that. It was all done, but it was all crushed. It was crushed by outside forces and we never had a champion in Ottawa to stand for us.”.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the seal trade, which used to be valued at $34.3 million annually, has significantly declined to approximately $275,000 per year due to the 2009 European Union export ban and the 2011 ban in China..In a May 17 briefing note, the department of Fisheries Seal Market Development said Asia was “one of its last opportunities for their industry to again become commercially viable.”.Pretty told senators that seal hunters had no effective lobby..“We don’t have a national champion on seals,” said Pretty. .“You know, if the beef industry in this country was under attack like the seals are today, there would be action taken about it, believe me.”.“Any time that somebody from this province can land in Ottawa and have their coat sprayed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and nothing happens, there might be a small misdemeanour charge, but that signal goes to the high schools and it goes right to the media who also are a part of that process that promote these individuals to the detriment of our harvesting industry,” said Pretty..“We haven’t seen that level of campaigns against, say, eating beef, eating lamb,” said Senator Salma Ataullahjan (ON). .“What is driving this campaign against the seal hunt?”.“We started talking about baby seals and the prettiness of the facial composure of a seal versus other animals,” replied Pretty..“The lamb is cute,” said Senator Ataullahjan. .“I love rack of lamb, I must say, but I have never seen anyone paint my coat over it,” replied Pretty. .“Seriously, the point is that is part of the process.”.Lorelei Roberts, the assistant deputy fisheries minister for Newfoundland and Labrador, expressed concerns that seal hunting faced criticism even within public schools in the province..“One of my friends’ daughters, she is 9, and she spoke to me about seals,” testified Roberts..“She said, ‘You know, Lorelei, they are talking about seals in school, but I wanted to come and ask you about it,’” said Roberts. .“She said, ‘They are saying that we kill baby seals.’”.“I said, ‘You know that is actually not factual,'” said Roberts. .“We don’t kill baby seals. We kill adult seals, and there are a lot of seals, and it is the same as if we have meat from cows, meat from pigs. There is a purpose for an animal.”
