Canadian Senate Opposition Leader Appeals to President Sarkozy

INFO

Céline Hervieux-Payette, Leader of the Opposition in Canada’s Senate, has made a strong appeal to President Sarkozy of France to allow science to dictate his nation’s policy towards the import of seal products.

Referring to an earlier letter sent by Sarkozy to animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot in April, Hervieux-Payette wrote, “I know you are sensitive to the rational, sciencebased approach.” Sarkozy had told Bardot that species management should be conducted on a scientific basis and that “the status of the conservation of species is all that counts.”

The most extensively hunted seal in Canada, the Harp, has tripled in number over the last thirty years to around 5.5 million animals. Hervieux-Payette said that to state this species is in danger would be an “intellectual shortcut” that no scientist is taking.

Summarizing the situation, she wrote: “Mr. President, as you can see, defending the seal hunt is not simply a matter of defending a hunt, a culture, a way and place of life or a means of subsistence for modest populations. It also means defending the truth against manipulation and disinformation, defending the spirit of democracy and freedom from the imposition of a moral order, and defending the language of science against extremism and anthropomorphism.”

Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, had stated in May that France would ban seal products from Canada to “preserve the species in a context in which there have been changes in habitat as a result of climate warming.” There is no evidence, however, that global warming will significantly impact Harp seals and Hervieux-Payette referred to a scientific assessment that stated climate change will have numerous positive and negative effects on the ecology of seals, with the net impact being the result of a complex weighting of various effects.

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