Inuit Seal Hunting in Canada: Emerging Narratives in an Old Controversy

Vocabulary flashcards covering the historical controversy, policies, commercial and subsistence differences, and emerging Inuit counter-narratives surrounding seal hunting in Canada.

Hakapik

A club-like tool fitted with a hammer and hook used in Atlantic Canada to harvest seals.

Villain-Hero-Victim Narrative

A campaigning narrative used by animal rights groups that cast seal pups as victims, Atlantic Canadian sealers as villains, and animal rights organizations and supporters as heroes.

Narrative

Defined in its simplest form as a story designed to resonate deeply with audiences and help them make sense of complex issues.

Hashtag Activism

The rapid dissemination of a narrative coined into a single phrase on social media to build public dialogue, organize grassroots support, and drive legislative action.

Harp Seals

The seal species accounting for almost all seals harvested commercially in Canada, migrating annually between the Canadian Arctic/Greenland and southern Labrador, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Newfoundland.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)

The principal management authority in Canada responsible for regulating the seal fishery, enforcing catch quotas, and issuing commercial licenses.

Whitecoats

Newborn harp seals whose commercial harvesting was officially prohibited by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in 1987.

Bluebacks

Newborn hooded seals whose commercial harvesting was officially prohibited by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in 1987.

Three-Step Process

A science-based harvesting requirement mandated by DFO in 2008 in collaboration with the Independent Veterinarians Working Group, consisting of striking, checking, and bleeding the seal.

Ringed Seals

The seal species most commonly harvested and sold to commercial markets by the Inuit across Canada's Arctic regions.

Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009

European Union legislation enacted on moral grounds that banned the importation and trade of seal products, featuring an Inuit exemption that was functionally ineffective due to regulatory ambiguities.

sealfie

An Inuit-led social media hashtag campaign launched in 2014 featuring photos of Inuit wearing or eating seal products to assert the cultural, economic, and subsistence importance of seal hunting.

Angry Inuk

A 2016 award-winning documentary film directed by Inuit filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril detailing the detrimental economic and social impacts of anti-sealing campaigns on Inuit communities.

Seal Day on The Hill

A May 2016 event hosted by the Government of Canada in Ottawa to promote seal products and demonstrate federal support for the seal hunt.

Certification and Market Access Program for Seals (CMAPS)

A $5.7\text{ million dollar}$ Canadian government fund created in 2016 to support the certification of Inuit-harvested seal products for EU market entry and broaden market access for Canadian seals.

National Seal Products Day

A Canadian national holiday established in 2017 to celebrate and recognize the importance of the seal hunt for coastal communities, Indigenous peoples, and Canada as a whole.

Recognized Certifying Bodies (CMAPS)

The Government of Nunavut and the Government of the Northwest Territories, which are the two entities officially authorized in Canada to certify seal pelts as Inuit-harvested for the EU market.

Commercial Fisheries Licensing Policy for Eastern Canada (1996)

The federal licensing framework established under the Fisheries Act that strictly regulates commercial sealers and sealing licenses in Eastern Canada.