The Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, has issued a statement with respect to the European Union’s release of proposed regulations to ban seal products. In the statement Hearn said that the Canadian government encouraged that the hard work of the Prime Minister, Fisheries Conservation Ambassador Sullivan, and the international team from the provinces and territories, which has led the government to successfully secure exemptions from the proposed ban, our position remains that any ban on a humanely conducted hunt, such as Canada’s, is without cause.
According to Hearn in near future the federal government along with provincial and territorial governments and sealing industry leaders, will be reviewing how the proposed regulations and any exemptions would apply to Canada. The minister told that Canada expects the EU to quickly begin discussions on the conditions for exemption from the draft regulations without which any trade restriction would have no impact on market access for products from Canada’s humane, regulated and responsible hunt.
Hearn opined that the federal government likes to caution European decision-makers about adopting broad regulations to ban products from a responsible, sustainable and well-regulated hunt. He added that it would be dangerous to restrict the trade based on misinformation and emotional rhetoric. He further added that the federal government will continue to stand up for sealers to protect the Canadian sealing industry and its markets.
