The European Union's ban on seal products is being reviewed for the first time, 15 years after it was put in place. Some groups in the N.W.
T. and Nunavut say the ban is too restrictive, and hope the process ultimately results in it being lifted. The EU's European Commission is accepting submissions until August 7 in a "call for evidence" that will be compiled in a report to European Parliament.
Greenland, Nunavut and the N.W.T.
are all invited to take part. The EU has banned the import of seal products since 2009. In 2015, however, it introduced two exceptions to the ban that allowed Inuit and other Indigenous people to sell products made from seal, under certain conditions.
Those exceptions say that hunting methods must take into account the welfare of the animal and hunting must be part of community traditions, in addition to contributing to its subsistence. A certificate proving these conditions were respected must accompany each product sold. Seal hunt advocate takes issue with EU president's claim that Indigenous exemptions are working Nunavut, N.
W.T. and Greenland team up on European politicians to promote Inuit seal skin products Since then, the commission has done two reviews of these exceptions, but they have not reviewed the ban in its entirety.
A lack of information Although they appear to be less restrictive at first glance, the ban's exemptions for Inuit are highly contested in the Canadian North. "The exemption that they put in place isn't working because we hav.
