IDLE
NO MORE CANADA- FREE TRADE THIS CANADA: Every four or five days Europe kills
more animals for their fur than the entire annual Canadian hunt does in a year.
The poppies by Iqaluit seamstress Atsainak Akeesho features carefully trimmed rabbit fur dyed red and a black sealskin centre- CANADIANS DON'T WASTE SEALS- OR HUNT 4 SPORT- LIKE EU...
------------------------
Songs of The Inuit - Throat Singing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8QuNdfb-Yw
------------------
EU
spends £260,000 on hunters then bans products [pays for seal cookbook]
The
Telegraph ^ | 4/8/2010 | Bruno
Waterfield in Brussels
Posted
on April-08-10 10:50:30 PM by bruinbirdman
European
Union introduced a ban on seal products after spending more than £260,000 on
promoting the seal hunting industry, including a cookbook with a recipe for
"Seal Wellington".
Swedish,
Finnish and Norwegian hunters who legally cull seals for conservation reasons
are angry that they must now bury or burn the bodies because of an EU ban
agreed last year.
Under
the EU ban all commercial trade in seal based products, ranging from valuable
skins, meat and oil, which is used in Omega-3 capsules, is forbidden.
"Sweden,
and the EU, has tried to ban people from smoking but it doesn't ban people from
selling or buying tobacco," said Ake Granstrom, of the Swedish association
for hunting and wildlife management. "Why can't we market what we are
allowed to hunt? It is crazy.
"We
want to make use of the animals we kill. Otherwise it is a complete waste of a
good resource."
The
ban means that an EU funded cookbook, compiled by Mr Granstrom and aimed at a
pre-prohibition promotion of "modern, trendy seal cuisine", is
useless to the taxpayers who paid for it.
"Säl
Hylje Sel", named after the three words for "seal" in Swedish,
Finnish and Norwegian, is now to be published in Canada because its recipes are
now effectively outlawed in Europe.
Twelve
renowned chefs were asked to come up with tasty recipe ideas, ranging from a
haute cuisine Seal Wellington to an Asian dish of wok fried seal with jasmine rice
and sweet and sour sauce.
The
cookbook was part of an EU project named 'Seal: A common resource', that
received £262,000, between 2000 and 2007, to help hunters make the most of the
animals they were allowed to cull.
The
EU ban has risked a world trade dispute with Canada,
(Excerpt)
Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
comment:
“...are
angry that they must now bury or burn the [seal] bodies because of an EU ban
agreed last year.”
It
makes me angry, too. I guess it’s my frugal nature, but the thought of the
perfectly good seal carcasses going to waste appalls me. It’d be like bringing
down a deer and then being told you have to leave it to rot in some field
somewhere. All that fine game meat just thrown away. Ugh!
And
I can only imagine the loss of income the seal hunters are facing with this ban
comment:
These
are the morons Obama wants us to be like
------------------
European
politicians are breathtakingly hypocritical about sealskins
ROUGHLY
handled, and incompetently stunned, terrified animals may awaken several times
before they are slaughtered. Some have their throats slit fully conscious.
Europe's industrial farms dispatch 1m sheep, cattle and pigs every day. You
cannot cater to the welfare of a large animal like a pig when the line must
kill five in a minute.
If
the European Parliament were really interested in animal welfare, then it might
look rather more closely at the farming industry that the European Union so
lavishly rewards with subsidies. But it has more pressing business. On May 5th
MEPs, suddenly disgusted by the cruelty of people far away hunting seals, voted
to endorse a ban on the trade of seal products, most of which come from Canada.
Their hypocritical recommendation, which still has to be approved by the
European Commission and Council, isn't even much good for the seals.
Every
year, 300,000 seals meet their end not by mauling from a polar bear, but
instantaneously from gunshot or a blow from a club. Four years ago the WWF, an
environmental organisation, commissioned an independent vet's report which
concluded that seal clubbing is not cruel if it is properly done by competent
and trained professionals. The report judged that the Canadian hunt was
professional and highly regulated. And the vets said that popular horror of the
seal hunt seemed to be based largely on emotion and on images that are
difficult even for experienced observers to interpret.
By
the grim standards of Europe's farrowing sheds, millions of seals enjoy a
blissful life fishing and breeding on the Canadian ice. At least Canadian seals
have the luxury of being stunned before they die. Compassion in World Farming,
a lobby group, says that half the sheep killed in France are conscious when
their throats are slit. Such treatment is possible through a loophole that
allows for religious slaughter—a loophole that the same champions of animal
welfare in the European Parliament voted to avoid closing on May 7th.
A
few seals are killed to protect fish, others as a source of blubber or food.
Most are indeed killed for their fur. That may not be to everyone's taste, but
it is hardly unEuropean. Europe's fur farms produce over 30m mink and fox pelts
a year. Every four or five days Europe kills more animals for their fur than
the entire annual Canadian hunt does in a year. Seal hunting sounds unfair; but
Europeans are reluctant to ban the hunting of similarly defenceless game birds,
deer or wild boar.
A
ban on the seal hunt would spare individual seals, but it may not do much for
the seal population as a whole. When wildlife cannot be traded, it loses its
value and thus the incentive for people to conserve it. Today the hunters
exploiting the seals have an excellent reason to maintain a healthy and growing
population. A trade ban would mean that the management or maintenance of a wild
population becomes just another drain on resources. Sometimes ecotourism pays
the bills, but it works only in places that are easy for tourists to get to.
Why
did the European Parliament overlook all this? Seal-murdering foreigners are a
soft target and animal-welfare groups have been lobbying MEPs for years. It may
not be a coincidence that they finally voted for a ban just a month before they
face elections. Having been invisible to their constituents for the past five
years, what better way for MEPs to save their own skins than to fight valiantly
for those of baby seals?
--------------------
Cooking
with seal, brought to you by the EU
Leigh
Phillips
Brussels,
Belgium — Special to The Globe and Mail
Last
updated Thursday, Aug. 23 2012, 1:30 PM EDT
The
Fur Institute of Canada is planning to produce English and French versions of a
seal cookbook originally published by the European Union - the year before the
EU banned imports of Canadian seal products.
Now
something of an embarrassment for the EU, the large-format, hardbound 128-page
Seal in the Modern Kitchen - published only in Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian -
had never received much international notice.
It's
a really slick cookbook. Jamie Oliver-style. David Barry, The Fur Institute of
Canada
But
last week, the original co-ordinator of the cookbook project, Anita Storm,
angry at the EU's seal ban, gave the fur institute the green light to produce
its own versions of the book, which features recipes for such haute cuisine
dishes as herb-stuffed seal schnitzel and seal Wellington with Madeira sauce.
"It's
a really slick cookbook. Jamie Oliver-style," said David Barry, the
institute's sealing-committee co-ordinator.
The
group is now looking to raise the necessary funds to pay for the translation
and publication, and to find a Canadian publisher. Some organizations have
already indicated a willingness to come up with the cash, and the fur institute
is hoping some provinces and territories will also provide funding. Mr. Barry
says the institute has received an expression of interest from Newfoundland
Premier Danny Williams.
"We're
hoping to use it as a propaganda prop to battle the ban," he said.
"It's a very valuable document politically."
Published
in 2006, the book was the product of a creative retreat for 13 of Scandinavia's
top chefs, who crafted recipes aimed at rehabilitating seal meat as a tasty,
lean ingredient for Michelin-star restaurants and a delicacy to be kept in the
home foodie's pantry.
Its
publication was part of a wider EU-bankrolled, €1-million program: "Seal:
Our Common Resource," that worked to promote the use of seal products and
ran from 2001 to 2007 in partnership with regional authorities from Sweden,
Finland and Norway.
Under
the directorship of Ms. Storm, the program also worked to incorporate the use
of seal hide into college fashion curricula, improve game management and boost
the sale of such seal-craft creations as jewellery, bags, gloves, lamps,
briefcases and upholstery. A seal-leather-bound diary produced as part of the
program was handed out as a gift to European prime ministers and presidents at
a 2005 EU summit.
But
in 2007, according to Ms. Storm, the program came to an end because "there
was by then already so much discussion about the ban on seals."
She
says she's disappointed about how the projects were wound up. She now looks
after heritage preservation efforts for the Kvarken region in Sweden, but she
continues to work on seal-promotion activities as well.
"I
still co-ordinate things a bit, trying to help these people in my spare
time," she said. "They call me if they want to sell seal meat or
clothes or another product, and I try to put them in touch with people who want
to buy them. Restaurants call looking for seal meat too."
Mr.
Barry says that beyond its use as a campaign tool, the cookbook could be a
great seller. The one commercial concern they have is that the recipes
"have a real Scandinavian taste." He added: "Who knows, that may
actually be a selling point, but we are also thinking about including some
traditional Inuit recipes, maybe some from Quebec as well."
The
people behind its original publication say that because of the importance of
the issue, they are not looking to charge for the text and even want to come to
Canada to help promote it.
The
commission's regional development spokesman, Ton van Lierop, said of the seal
program: "It absolutely did not amount to encouraging the killing of
seals. The project only aimed to improve the image of a resource that was
otherwise thought of as a problem for fishermen's livelihoods. Throughout we
maintained a requirement that they respect the animal."
Conservative
Christofer Fjellner, a Swedish member of the European Parliament and opponent
of the seal ban, says the whole development is "highly hypocritical."
"Just
before the ban came in, the EU was trying to promote making products from seals
and selling them," he said. "The cookbook is proof that prior to the
ban, the EU actually had some insight into the value of seals and was promoting
the sector."
With
a report from Teresa Küchler
Special
to The Globe and Mail
--------------------------------
Seal
Ban: The Inuit Impact
For
more Eye On The Arctic videos visit http://www.rcinet.ca/eyeonthearctic
The
EU ban on seal products has profoundly affected Canada's Inuit community.
Despite the fact that the Inuit are exempt from the ban, they no longer have a
market for sealskins; a by-product of their subsistence hunt.
This
short documentary brings together commentary from Inuit hunters, community
leaders and an emotional testimonial from Lisa Eetuk Ishulutak, who is affected
by the ban because she is learning Fur Design at the Arctic College, and her
main design material is sealskin.
---------------
Canada's
seal hunt
Sealing
is a way of life and a valuable source of food and income for Canadian Inuit
and for thousands of Canadian families in remote coastal communities. The
European Union's ban on imports of Canadian seal products threatens this traditional
way of life.
Sealing
takes place off the Newfoundland coast and near the Magdalene Islands, as well
as in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence and Canada's Inuit regions (Nunavut,
Nunavik, Inuvialuit and Nunatsiavut). Sealing in Nunavut represents between $4
million to $6 million of food each year. Before the European Union seal ban,
incomes from seal pelts could reach up to $1 million annually. Those incomes
allowed Inuit to buy the equipment and gas necessary to continue to hunt, thus
provide then with a crucial source of food.
Overall,
the sealing industry provides part-time employment for up to 6,000 people.
Using available data, a conservative estimate would put the value of the hunt
at $35-40 million annually. Sealing can represent from 25-35% of sealers' total
annual income; it is a very significant economic contributor to communities
with limited economic opportunities.
Seals
are not just used for their fur. Seal oil is higher in omega-3 oils than fish
oils and has been sold in capsule form in Europe, Asia and Canada for 10 years.
Researchers are also looking into the possibility of using harp seal valves as
replacements in human heart valve transplants.
While
Canada respects an individual's choice to support or oppose the seal hunt, it
encourages people to form their opinions based on the facts. The facts are
thatCanada's seal hunt is well managed and humane, with rigorous animal welfare
principles that are internationally recognized by independent observers. The
European Food Safety Authority, in a 2007 report, concluded that the approved
methods used to harvest seals in Canada are humane.
The
Canadian seal harvest is also sustainable. The Atlantic harp seal population is
healthy and abundant; it is currently estimated at 6.9 million animals, and has
more than tripled its size to what it was in the 1970s.
In
addition, Canada monitors the seal harvest closely, including ongoing aerial
patrols, sophisticated vessel monitoring systems, at-sea and dockside vessel
inspections, and regular inspections of processing facilities. Canada is also
committed to enforcing the seal harvest regulations to the fullest extent of
the law and interacts regularly with the sealing industry to make sure that
sealers fully understand and carry out their obligations under licence
conditions and regulations.
The
EU seal ban
Canada
is against the European Union ban on the import of seal products, which entered
into force on 20 August 2010. As per the measures in place, seal products can
only be placed on the European Union market if they are accompanied by an
"attestation" from a "recognized body" confirming that they
qualify as either: 1) seal products resulting from hunts traditionally
conducted by Inuit and other indigenous communities; or 2) seal products
resulting from hunts conducted for the sole purpose of sustainable management
of marine resources, and on a non-profit basis. Small amounts of seal products
may also be imported for personal use by travellers.
It
is important to note that the process and requirements for Canadian Inuit to
export seal products into the European Union remain unclear. In addition, Inuit
groups have stated that past experience with the European Union's 1983 ban on
seal pup skins has shown that allowing Inuit-derived products while banning all
others does not work in terms of preserving a market for Inuit products, as the
general ban effectively destroys the market for all seal products.
In
addition, despite the fact that the genesis of the movement to ban seal
products is rooted in animal welfare concerns, the European Union authorities
saw fit not to include an exemption for humanely killed seal products in the
context of commercial hunts such as that of Canada. In the past, Canada has invited the European
Union and others to work toward developing international sealing standards.
Canada continues to advocate this proposal in the firm belief that
international sealing standards, rather than an import ban, are the best way to
address animal welfare concerns.
Canada's
challenge at the World Trade Organization
Canada
believes that the European Union's ban on imports of Canadian seal products is
inconsistent with its international trade obligations. This is why Canada
initiated a World Trade Organization dispute settlement process in the fall of
2009. By moving ahead with this challenge, Canada is reiterating its commitment
to defend the Canadian sealing industry and the coastal and northern
communities that depend on the seal harvest. Canada is also sending a clear
message to the international community that Canada will not allow to go
unchallenged trade barriers that have no basis in scientific fact.
At
Canada's request, the World Trade Organization has established a dispute
settlement panel that will examine the European Union seal ban regulation.
Canada hopes that the World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel will
cast meaningful light on these European Union measures. Norway is also opposed
to the European Union seal ban and has joined Canada as a co-complainant in
this dispute.
Related
Information
Canada
•Department
of Fisheries & Oceans
•Newfoundland
& Labrador: Fisheries and Aquaculture
•Nunavut:
Fisheries and Sealing
•Seals:
Inuit Tradition in Nunavut's Future
•Seals
and Sealing Network (Fur Institute of Canada)
European
Union
•European
Commission – DG Environment
World
Trade Organisation
•
Canada's WTO Case on the European Union Seal Ban
---------------------
CANADA'S
FIRST PEOPLES
Food
/ Hunting
•The
Inuit were mainly hunters, and relied heavily on the animals of the Arctic as
their main source of food.
•Since
very little vegetation could survive in the Arctic climate, the Inuit could not
depend solely on plants for food.
Inuit hunter with bow and arrow
Making muktuk Hunting
•The
Inuit were skilled hunters, and caught food year-round, even during the harsh
winters.
•The
Inuit were able to hunt for food year-round, so depending on the season they
would hunt for different animals.
•Sea
Mammals ?Sea mammals were usually hunted during the winter when they were out
on the ice. However, some sea mammals, like whales, were hunted in the open
water.
?Some
sea mammals - seals, walruses, beluga whales, narwhals
?What
they were hunted for: ?Seal: meat and skin
?Walrus:
ivory (tusks), and meat (mostly for the dogs)
?Beluga
Whales: skin, food like muktuk (outer skin and blubber)
?Narwhal:
ivory, meat for dogs
•Land
Animals -Some land animals that were hunted - caribou, musk oxen, arctic fox,
polar bear, arctic hare, arctic birds
Summer
Hunt
•Summers
were spent fishing and hunting caribou in the interior regions of the Arctic,
and hunting seal and walrus along the coasts.
•One
of the most important animals to the Inuit was the caribou. Caribou were
hunted, mostly in the summer, for their meat and their skins.
•In
the fall, the caribou would gather in large herds to migrate south to better
winterfeeding areas, making them easier to kill.
Winter
Hunt
•Hunting
and fishing was harder during the winter months because of the thick ice and
snow that blanketed the Arctic, but the Inuit were still able to find food.
•Winters
were spent seal hunting and ice fishing. In the interior regions, they also
hunted caribou.
•Seals
were the main source of food during the winter months.
•Sealskin
and blubber were also used to make clothing, and materials for boats, tents,
harpoon lines, and fuel for light and heat.
•Hunters
would wait, sometime for hours, at a seal's breathing holes in the ice, then
kill them with a harpoon when they came up for a breath.
•The
Ringed Seal was the most important marine mammal, because they were a
year-round source of food for the Inuit.
•However,
the ringed seal hunting patterns did change with the seasons: ?October-November
(ice cover starting to freeze): easy to find breathing holes in ice
?December-March
(thicker ice and snow cover): harder to find breathing holes
?April-June:
hunted the younger seal pups
?July-September
(open water season): when most of the seals are hunted
Fishing
•Fishing
was also an important source of food for the Inuit, although it was more
important in certain areas than others.
•They
mostly fished for Arctic char, especially during their spring and fall runs.
Whitefish and trout were also available.
•During
the summer, the Inuit fished from boats called 'kayaks'.
•During
the winter, the Inuit fished through holes in the ice.
Preparing
the food
Netsilik man ice fishing
•The
Inuit had several ways of preparing meat and fish.
•The
first way was to cook the meat and eat it fresh. However, this was not very
common because of the shortage of fuel for cooking.
•The
second method was to dry the meat as a way to preserve it.
•They
also froze meat to save it, and eat it later.
•However,
most of the meat was eaten raw.
Tools
•Most
tools that the Inuit used were made out of stone, or parts of animals, like
bone, ivory, antlers, teeth, and horns.
•When
fishing, the Inuit attached sealskin floats to harpoon heads (with lines),
which kept the animal close to the surface after being killed.
•Most
harpoon heads were made out of ivory from walrus tusks or whalebone.
•To
catch fish they also used fishing lines, nets, leisters and three-pronged
spears.
•For
hunting, the Inuit used spears, bow and arrows, clubs and stone traps.
•The
Inuit used knives for cutting meat, and also snow and ice.
•A
special knife that the Inuit used was called an 'ulu'. Ulus was used for
skinning animals, preparing the animal skins, and buthchering.
Knife of carved bone
--------
CANADA-
SEAL OIL, FOOD, FUR AND BONES... USED THROUGHOUT CANADA'S HISTORY
Grey
seals (Halichoerus grypus) were the next species hunted for their oil. By 1790
there was a year-round hunt on the Magdalen Islands and, by 1860, the species
had been wiped out over much of its former range. As recently as the late 1940s
grey seals were thought to be extinct in eastern Canada. Some animals survived,
however, and the 1993 population size was estimated to be 143 500, increasing
at about 8% per year.
Atlantic
harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were also hunted but because of their small size,
low oil yield and scattered distribution, they largely escaped commercial
exploitation. Nonetheless, settlers killed them for food, household oil and
leather for boots and clothing. The species survives in Atlantic Canada today,
scattered over much of its former range. The most recent estimate of its
population size - from the 1970s - was 12 700 animals.
SEALING
hirteen
species of SEALS, fur seals, SEA LIONS and WALRUS inhabit the waters
surrounding continental North America. Most of these may be found in Canadian
waters for at least part of each year. Here, they have long provided humans
with sources of food, clothing and fuel.
Archaeological
evidence indicates that seals have been used by the indigenous peoples of
eastern Canada for at least 4000 years. A number of species are still hunted,
including ringed seals (Phoca hispida), bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) and
walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) in coastal regions of the Canadian Arctic.
When
most people think of sealing, they typically think of Canada's East Coast seal
hunt. As soon as the first Europeans arrived in the New World , they began
hunting seals. Beginning early in the 16th century, a succession of Portuguese
and French merchants, Spanish Basques, and French and British colonists exploited
the walrus population living along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River
and in the Gulf of St Lawrence for their valuable oil, ivory tusks and leather.
Exploitation was relentless and the last walrus was seen in the Gulf in 1800.
In 1987 this walrus population was listed as "extirpated" by the
COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF ENDANGERED WILDLIFE IN CANADA (see ENDANGERED
ANIMALS).
Grey
seals (Halichoerus grypus) were the next species hunted for their oil. By 1790
there was a year-round hunt on the Magdalen Islands and, by 1860, the species
had been wiped out over much of its former range. As recently as the late 1940s
grey seals were thought to be extinct in eastern Canada. Some animals survived,
however, and the 1993 population size was estimated to be 143 500, increasing
at about 8% per year.
Atlantic
harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were also hunted but because of their small
size, low oil yield and scattered distribution, they largely escaped commercial
exploitation. Nonetheless, settlers killed them for food, household oil and
leather for boots and clothing. The species survives in Atlantic Canada today,
scattered over much of its former range. The most recent estimate of its
population size - from the 1970s - was 12 700 animals.
By
the mid-17th century, French settlers began hunting harp seals (Phoca
groenlandica) feeding in the St Lawrence River estuary during winter.
Initially, the animals were shot from small boats but before long, the settlers
adopted the more efficient methods of the local INUIT, and began to catch seals
in nets. By 1720, a lucrative land-based net fishery existed along the St
Lawrence River, up the Labrador coast to Hamilton Inlet and along the west
coast of Newfoundland.
By
the late 1700s, European demand for seal oil and skins led to the development
of a commercial seal "fishery" based in Newfoundland. Since then -
except for one year during World War II - a commercial seal hunt has taken
place annually off Canada's East Coast and in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Two
species are targeted: harp seals and hooded seals (Cystophora cristata).
At
first, the hunt was carried out from small boats, but these were soon
overshadowed by the introduction of larger "wooden-walled" sailing
ships. The industry grew, bringing foreign investment and employing not only
sealers but shipbuilders, carpenters, sailmasters and refiners who extracted
the prized oil from seal blubber. Between 1818 and 1862 more people from more
ports worked in the sealing industry than at any other time. In many years,
landed catches exceeded 500 000 seals. The highest catches occurred in 1831,
1832 and 1844 when 680 000, 740 000, and 686 000 seals, respectively, were
reportedly killed. The largest hunt, in terms of the numbers of ships and
people involved, occurred in 1857, when over 370 ships carried 13 600 people to
prosecute the seal fishery. During this time only the celebrated cod fishery
was more important to the Newfoundland economy (see FISHERIES).
Wooden
sailing ships eventually gave way to those powered by steam (1863) and later to
steel-hulled steamers (1906). The advantage of heavier motorized vessels lay in
their speed and ease of handling and also in their ability to force a passage
through ice. Despite such technological advances, seal catches declined. Years
of overhunting had taken their toll and, on only two occasions, 1871 and 1876,
did catches ever again exceed 500 000 animals.
By
the late 19th century, production of PETROLEUM and the availability of
electricity cut the demand for seal oil. The industry continued to decline
through the world wars (when sealing ships were claimed for other pursuits) and
during the Depression. When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, its seal hunt
became Canada's seal hunt. Markets reopened after WWII, when the hunt again
became profitable, primarily because of demands for oil, fur and leather. By
now, ships from Nova Scotia (owned by an expatriate Norwegian) and Norway had
joined the offshore hunt. More than 400 000 seals were killed in the 1951 hunt
and, between 1949 and 1961, an average of 310 000 seals were taken annually.
Scientists later estimated that the northwestern Atlantic harp seal population
declined, perhaps by more than 50%, between 1950 and 1970.
In
1965 Canada imposed a partial quota on its sealers operating in the Gulf of St
Lawrence. Quotas for both harp and hooded seals were established for all
sealers in 1971 and 1974, respectively. Harp seal catches, nonetheless,
increased during the late 1970s to 1981, a year when over 200 000 harp seals
were again landed. Hooded seal catches fluctuated from year to year, averaging
12 450 annually between 1970 to 1982. In 1983, however, the situation changed
rapidly following the defeat of a proposal to list a number of northern seals -
including harps and hoods - on Appendix II of the Convention on International
Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). Later that year the European Community
(now European Union) imposed an import ban on products derived from whitecoated
harp seal pups and blueback hooded seal pups, which together had constituted
most of the historical catch. In 1986, a Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing,
established by the federal government in 1984, recommended that "The
commercial hunting of the pups of harp seals (whitecoats) and hooded seals
(bluebacks) is widely unacceptable to the public and should not be
permitted." In 1987 the government implemented this recommendation and
banned the large vessel commercial hunt for whitecoated harp seal pups and
blueback hooded seal pups.
From
1983 to 1995 catches of harp and hooded seals averaged only about 54 700 and
1000, respectively, far below the annual total allowable catch (TAC) of 186 000
harp seals and between 2340 and 15 000 (depending on the year) of hooded seals.
In December 1995, however, Canada increased the TAC for harp seals to 250 000
and, for the second year in a row, provided subsidies to encourage sealing,
ostensibly to benefit depleted cod (Gadus morhua) stocks. In the event, more than
242 000 harp seals and 25 000 hooded seals (more than three times the 1996 TAC
of 8000) were killed in the largest seal hunt since 1970. In December 1996
Canada's fisheries minister announced a further increase in the TAC for the
1997 harp seal hunt to 275 000; the hooded seal TAC remained at 8000.
According
to a Canadian government computer model, the northwestern Atlantic harp seal
population has been increasing recently at about 5% per year and in 1994
numbered 4.8 million animals. There is, however, considerable uncertainty
associated with these estimates and the government's own analyses indicate that
the current quotas may cause the population to decline. The current status of
the hooded seal population is even less certain.
Today,
sealing continues to be a part of Canada's East coast fishing industry. Under
Canadian law, seals are a federal responsibility under the jurisdiction of the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The principle legal instrument governing
their management is the Fisheries Act. In 1966 Seal Protection Regulations,
established under the Act, first set down rules governing the seal hunt,
including the issuance of sealing permits, annual seal quotas, and opening and
closing dates for the hunt. In 1993 these regulations, along with those
pertaining to other Canadian marine mammals, were consolidated into a single
set of "Marine Mammal Regulations" (see FISHERIES POLICY).
Sealing
issues beyond Canada's 200-nautical-mile (370 km) limit, which was established
in 1977, come under the jurisdiction of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries
Organization (NAFO), which includes countries using major aquatic resources of
the region. Inside the 200-mile limit, an industry-dominated Fisheries Resource
Conservation Council (FRCC) now advises the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on
a variety of fishery issues including those involving seals (see LAW OF THE
SEA).
In
the Canadian Arctic, settlement of native LAND CLAIMS has begun to formalize
the "co-operative management" of marine resources including seals.
Although the federal Minister of Fisheries still retains ultimate authority for
the conservation of seal populations, native management boards are now involved
in setting quotas and monitoring catches, developing regulations, carrying out
population assessments and identifying research needs.
Since
the early 1960s, intense opposition to the commercial seal hunt has arisen from
both national and international groups. This is countered by the equally fierce
desire of the sealers and their supporters to preserve not only a source of
income but what they regard as their heritage. Regardless, harp and hooded
seals are still potentially threatened by an inadequately regulated hunt and by
environmental changes including biochemical contamination, climate change, and
the search for and transportation of fossil fuels in the waters off eastern
Canada. Although both species should theoretically be able to avoid highly
contaminated areas, an oil spill could have serious consequences, particularly
at breeding or whelping grounds or in northern waters, where biodegradation is
slow and cleanup difficult. Depletion of many fish stocks in the northwest
Atlantic, including species on which the seals depend, is another current
threat.
Successful
management of any future sealing activities like commercial fisheries will
depend more on reason, caution and sound scientific knowledge than on emotion
(on all sides of the issue), human overconfidence in our ability to predict the
future, or political expediency.
--------------------
Seals
have been part of Canada life since time.....
Bocabec
Archaeological Site
ARTICLE
CONTENTS: Domestic Architecture | Artifacts and Cultural Change |
Subsistence and Settlement Patterns
| Suggested Reading
The
1883 excavation of a portion of the Bocabec site by the Natural History Society
of New Brunswick marked the beginning of systematic, scientific examinations of
shell-bearing archaeological sites (see SHELL MIDDENS) in Canada. The initial
report on the excavation of this pre-contact site touched on phenomena that
remain salient and controversial in prehistoric ARCHAEOLOGY today: documenting
stratification and cultural change, inferring aboriginal subsistence and
settlement patterns, and reconstructing aboriginal domestic architecture and
use of space.
The
excavation at Bocabec was led and reported by George F. MATTHEW, of Saint John,
New Brunswick, a self-educated natural historian, and officer of the Natural
History Society at that time. Despite holding civil service positions at the
Customs House in Saint John for much of his working life, Matthew wrote about
200 scientific papers, mostly on GEOLOGY and PALAEONTOLOGY, but including six
papers on archaeological topics. Of the latter, his paper on the Bocabec site,
published in the Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick in
1884, and reprinted several times since, remains the best known and most
influential, both in Canada and the United States.
The
Bocabec site (sometimes referred to as the Phil's Beach site) is located in a
south-facing cove on the eastern side of the estuary of the Bocabec River in
the Quoddy Region, part of the traditional territory of the Peskotomuhkatiyik
(the Passamaquoddy people). Like all coastal archaeological sites in the
region, it was and continues to be threatened by rising sea levels and damaged
by coastal EROSION. In the early 1880s, the site extended about 50 m along the
shoreline and some 40 m perpendicular to the shore. A landward portion of the
site had been disturbed by farming and by the construction of "Phil's
house," which was already a ruin in 1883. On the shoreward, undisturbed
surface of the site, Matthew and his colleagues observed approximately 30
"saucer-shaped depressions," interpreted as the foundations of
aboriginal "huts" or dwellings. Excavating and studying these
"hut bottoms" became a focus of Matthew's interest.
Bocabec
Village
Bocabec
Village
Matthew’s
explanation of the Village Site at Bocabec (adapted from Matthew’s original
woodcut map of the site, which appeared in the Bulletin of the Natural History
Society of New Brunswick in 1884, pp. 8-9)
Domestic
Architecture
The dwelling features recognized by Matthew
were probably the foundations of pre-contact WIGWAMS, much like those
constructed by various Eastern Algonquian groups (see NATIVE PEOPLE: EASTERN
WOODLANDS) at European contact. The dwellings were oval-floored and about three
metres across at their widest. Their inhabitants probably arranged a series of
poles to form a frame, over which they fastened sheets of birchbark or hide to
make a weather-resistant shelter. Ethnohistoric accounts suggest that many of
the materials used to make wigwams could be taken down and moved from site to
site and reused.
The
inhabitants lined the floors of the structures with clean, rounded gravel from
the beach. Over this, they probably placed boughs or furs on which to sleep.
Near the centre of the floor, they built a fire for cooking and warmth.
Ethnohistoric accounts and archaeological evidence from a coastal site in Nova
Scotia suggest that Eastern Algonquians may have arranged space inside such
structures according to the gender and ages of the inhabitants, with men and
women working and sleeping on opposite sides of the dwellings.
Artifacts
and Cultural Change
The artifacts that Matthew and his colleagues
recovered included ceramic fragments (portions of pottery vessels tempered with
grit or shell and decorated with a variety of distinctive motifs), flaked-stone
projectile points (which could be attached to spear or arrow shafts), scrapers
for working hides, bark or wood, and ground-stone axes. Because organic tools
generally preserve poorly compared to their stone counterparts, it is difficult
to infer other portions of the inhabitants' toolkits. However, they likely used
bone needles and awls for a variety of tasks (including assembling wigwam
coverings).
In
light of more recent archaeological research, it is unlikely that, as Matthew
suggested, the features at Bocabec represent a "village." Rather,
they resulted from a series of occupations by one or a few families at any one
time. However, Matthew recognized that the artifacts from the earlier (deeper)
layers in the Bocabec site differed in detail from those in the later layers. On
this basis, he suggested that the site had been occupied sequentially by two
different tribes or races. Although modern archaeologists would not necessarily
interpret the differences between the two groups of artifacts in ethnic or
racial terms, a study of the artifacts from Bocabec, conducted almost a century
after the original excavation, indicated that ancestral Peskotomuhkatiyik
inhabited the Bocabec site during both the Middle and Late Maritime WOODLAND
periods, from 2000 to 900 years ago.
Subsistence
and Settlement Patterns
Matthew examined the animal remains preserved
in the shell middens at Bocabec in some detail. Shell middens at the site,
comprised primarily of Mya arenaria (soft shell CLAM), help archaeologists to
reconstruct what the inhabitants at the site were doing, especially what they
were eating. Although we do not know the contents of the Phil's Beach shell
middens precisely, shell middens at other Quoddy Region sites indicate
inhabitants of the sites ate meat from clams, harbour SEALS, DEER, MOOSE,
HERRING, COD, migratory birds, and other animals. The site's occupants probably
ate available wild plant foods too, but these are less clear in the
archaeological record than are animal remains. Matthew believed he identified
charred "grains" from a grass-like plant and charred beach peas
(Lathyrus maritimus), but these identifications have not been replicated at
coastal sites in the Quoddy Region, so it is unclear whether or not Matthew's
plant identifications were correct.
Matthew
used this subsistence information to suggest that ancestral Peskotomuhkatiyik
resided on marine shorelines in cold seasons as well as in warm seasons. This
interpretation presaged several decades of research on pre-contact seasonality
and settlement patterns conducted during the latter half of the 20th century
that reinforced Matthew's interpretation of the Bocabec site.
Author
M. GABRIEL HRYNICK and DAVID W. BLACK
Suggested
Reading
M. G. Hrynick, M. W. Betts, and D. W. Black,
"A Late Maritime Woodland Period Dwelling Feature from Nova Scotia's South
Shore: Evidence for Patterned Use of Domestic Space," Archaeology of
Eastern North America, Vol. 40 (2012); D. Sanger, "Semi-Subterranean
Houses in the Ceramic Period Along the Coast of Maine," The Maine
Archaeological Society Bulletin, Vol. 50 (2010); B. G. Trigger, Native Shell
Mounds of North America (1986); J. Bishop, "Phil's Beach: An Artifact and
Comparative Study," Nexus: The Canadian Student Journal of Anthropology,
Vol. 3 (1983); G. F. Matthew, "Discoveries at a Village of the Stone Age
at Bocabec, New Brunswick." Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New
Brunswick (1884).
---------------------------
Amazing
Grace- Inuit
-------------------
_ The poppies by Iqaluit seamstress Atsainak Akeesho features carefully trimmed rabbit fur dyed red and a black sealskin centre
Fur
poppies give remembrance Inuit flair
CBC
News Posted: Nov 11, 2010 7:13 PM CT| Last Updated: Nov 11, 2010 7:20 PM CT
The
poppies by Iqaluit seamstress Atsainak Akeesho features carefully trimmed
rabbit fur dyed red and a black sealskin centre. ((CBC))
An
Inuit seamstress from Iqaluit has crafted a distinctly northern version of the
Remembrance Day poppy — one that is made of fur.
Atsainak
Akeesho's fur poppy debuted in Iqaluit in the days leading up to the city's
Remembrance Day ceremony on Thursday.
Akeesho's
hand-sewn fur poppies are made of trimmed rabbit fur dyed red, with a small
black sealskin circle in the centre. A safety pin is sewn onto the back so they
do not fall off people's jackets or shirts easily.
Speaking
in Inuktitut, the longtime seamstress told CBC News she has been making all
kinds of colourful flower pins with fur scraps left over from other projects,
but the idea of a fur poppy came to her by accident.
"I
wasn't thinking about a poppy at all, just wanting to make a flower,"
Akeesho said. "But it came out looking like a poppy when I cut the fringe
of the fur off, cutting it close here."
Akeesho
said she has made upwards of 500 to 600 fur flower pins to date, including the
poppies.
Donating
sale proceeds
The
fur poppies are not the only non-traditional Remembrance Day symbols in Canada.
In recent years, peace groups have sold white poppies that aim to represent
peace and remember civilian war casualties.
north-inuit-fur-poppy101111
Akeesho,
a longtime seamstress and a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, says she plans
to donate some or all of her proceeds from the fur poppy sales. ((CBC))
But
Akeesho, a member of the Royal Canadian Legion in Iqaluit, said she plans to
donate some or all of her proceeds from her poppy sales accordingly.
"It
just goes to show that remembrance in Canada is alive and well, especially in
Nunavut, where they could take a natural product like that and make a poppy out
of it. It just is unreal," said Chris Groves, president of the legion's
Iqaluit branch.
Sherri
Young, who wore one of Akeesho's fur poppies at Thursday's ceremony, said it
pays tribute to soldiers who have fought and fallen for Canadians while
"remembering locally as well, looking at cultures and traditions that
people like to keep alive here."
Nunavut
Conservative MP Leona Aglukkaq wore the standard poppy on Thursday, but only
because she did not get a fur poppy in time.
"If
I had known that they were made already, I would have worn one today,"
Aglukkaq said.
-------------------
WTO
says European seal ban undermines some fair trade but is justified
Nov
25, 2013 - 2:10 PM EST
Last
Updated: Nov 25, 2013 - 2:13 PM EST
GENEVA
— The World Trade Organization has ruled that while aspects of the European
Union ban on imported seal products undermine fair trade, those restrictions
can be justified on “public moral concerns” for animal welfare.
While
anti-sealing advocates say it’s a landmark victory that upholds the EU embargo,
the WTO points out inconsistencies that it wants fixed.
It
says exceptions for aboriginal hunts under the ban are not being fairly applied
and consequently “accord imported seal products treatment less favourable” than
for domestic and some other foreign products.
However,
the ruling also finds that the ban “fulfils the objective of addressing the EU
public moral concerns on seal welfare to a certain extent, and no alternative
measure has been demonstrated to make an equivalent or greater contribution” to
that goal.
The
report released Monday from a WTO dispute settlement panel affects hunters in
Atlantic outports and Inuit communities who say the embargo discriminates
against Canadian seal products.
At
issue was a challenge by Canada and Norway of the 28-member EU’s 2010 ban on
the import and sale of seal fur, meat, blubber and other products.
The
federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development said the EU
embargo violates Europe’s WTO obligations. Norway argued that the embargo
unfairly exempts some seal products, including from some smaller-scale European
hunts, but not those from its commercial hunt.
Ottawa
has staunchly defended the seal hunt as humane and sustainable, talking up the
potential of other markets such as China, but the Canadian sealing industry is
a shadow of what it used to be.
In
this file photo, Inuit hunter Pitseolak Alainga explains how the Inuit
traditionally hunt seal to Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty outside the
Nunavut Legislature in Iqaluit, Canada, February 6, 2010. (GEOFF ROBINS ,
AFP/Getty Images)
In
this file photo, Inuit hunter Pitseolak Alainga explains how the Inuit
traditionally hunt seal to Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty outside the
Nunavut Legislature in Iqaluit, Canada, February 6, 2010. (GEOFF ROBINS ,
AFP/Getty Images)
The
ban is hailed by animal welfare activists who say the hunt is a cruel and
needless slaughter. It has also drawn Hollywood star power from the likes of
actor Jude Law who want it upheld.
The
EU ban exempts seal products resulting from Inuit or other aboriginal hunts, along
with those carried out solely to manage ocean resources.
There
are 60 days to appeal the WTO decision.
The
commercial seal hunt off Newfoundland last spring landed about 91,000 harp
seals, up from 69,000 the year before but far short of the federal quota of
400,000.
About
900,000 seals are hunted around the world each year, according to the European
Commission. Countries that have commercial hunts include Canada, Norway,
Greenland and Namibia.
Countries
with bans on imported seal products include the U.S., Mexico, Russia and
Taiwan.
A
European Union court last year upheld the EU embargo, saying it’s valid because
it fairly harmonizes the EU market while protecting the economic and social
interests of Inuit communities.
-----------------------
Inuit
diet
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump
to: navigation, search
Inuit elders eating Maktaaq.
Inuit
consume a diet of foods that are fished, hunted, and gathered locally. This may
include walrus, Ringed Seal, Bearded Seal, beluga whale, caribou, polar bear,
muskoxen, birds (including their eggs) and fish. While it is not possible to
cultivate native plants for food in the Arctic, the Inuit have traditionally
gathered those that are naturally available. Grasses, tubers, roots, stems,
berries, fireweed and seaweed (kuanniq or edible seaweed) were collected and
preserved depending on the season and the location.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
According
to Edmund Searles in his article "Food and the Making of Modern Inuit
Identities," they consume this type of diet because a mostly meat diet is
"effective in keeping the body warm, making the body strong, keeping the
body fit, and even making that body healthy".[6]
Hunting[edit]
Seals[edit]
An Inuit hunter skinning a ringed seal
Seal
meat is the most important aspect of an Inuit diet and is often the largest
part of an Inuit hunter's diet.[6] Depending on the season, Inuit hunt for
different types of seal: Harp Seal, Harbor Seal, and Bearded Seal. Ringed Seals
are hunted all year, while Harp Seals are only available during the summer.[7]
Because
seals need to break through the ice to reach air, they form breathing holes
with their claws. Through these, Inuit hunters are able to capture seals.[7]
When a hunter arrives at these holes, they set up a seal indicator that alerts
the hunter when a seal is coming up for a breath of air. When the seal comes
up, the hunter notices movement in the indicator and uses his harpoon to
capture the seal in the water.[7]
As
saltwater animals, seals are always considered to be thirsty and are therefore
offered a drink of fresh water as they die. This is shown as a sign of respect
and gratitude toward the seal and its sacrifice. This offering is also done to
please the spirit Sedna to ensure food supply.[7]
Walrus[edit]
Walrus hunting
Walrus
are often hunted during the winter and spring since hunting them in summer is
much more dangerous. A walrus is too large to be controlled by one man, so it
cannot be hunted alone.[7]
In
Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut, an Inuit elder describes the hunt of a
walrus in these words: "When a walrus was sighted, the two hunters would
run to get close to it and at a short distance it is necessary to stop when the
walrus's head was submerged…the walrus would hear you approach. [They] then
tried to get in front of the walrus and it was harpooned while its head was
submerged. In the meantime, the other person would drive the harpoon into the
ice through the harpoon loop to secure it."[7]
Bowhead
whale[edit]
See
also: whale meat
As
one of the largest animals in the world, the bowhead whale is able to feed an
entire community for nearly a year from its meat, blubber, and skin. Inuit
hunters most often hunt juvenile whales which, compared to adults, are safer to
hunt and have tastier skin. Similar to walrus, bowhead whales are captured by
harpoon. The hunters use active pursuit to harpoon the whale and follow it
during attack. At times, Inuit were known for using a more passive approach
when hunting whales. According to John Bennett and Susan Rowley, a hunter would
harpoon the whale and instead of pursuing it, would "wait patiently for
the winds, currents, and spirits to aid him in bringing the whale to
shore."[7]
Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), caught in
an Inuit subsistence whale hunt in Igloolik, Nunavut in 2002
Caribou[edit]
During
the majority of the year caribou roam the tundra in small herds, but twice a
year large herds of caribou cross the inland regions. Caribou have excellent
senses of smell and hearing so that the hunters must be very careful when in
pursuit. Often, Inuit hunters set up camp miles away from the caribou crossing
and wait until they are in full view to attack.[7]
There
are many ways in which the caribou can be captured, including spearing, forcing
caribou into the river, using blinders, scaring the caribou, and stalking the
caribou. When spearing caribou, hunters put the string of the spear in their
mouths and the other end they use to gently spear the animal.[7]
Fish[edit]
Inuit
consume both salt water and freshwater fish including sculpin, Arctic cod,
Arctic char and lake trout. They capture these types of fish by jigging. The
hunter cuts a square hole in the ice on the lake and fishes using a fish lure
and spear. Instead of using a hook on a line, Inuit use a fake fish attached to
the line. They lower it into the water and move it around as if it is real.
When the live fish approach it, they spear the fish before it has a chance to
eat the fake fish.[7]
Decline
in hunting[edit]
The
decline of hunting is partially due to the fact that young people lack the
skills to survive off the land. They are no longer skilled in hunting like
their ancestors and are growing more accustomed to the Qallunaat ("White
people") food that they receive from the south. The high costs of hunting
equipment—snowmobiles, rifles, sleds, camping gear, gasoline, and oil—is also
causing a decline in families who hunt for their meals.[8]
Nutrition[edit]
Reindeer meat from hunt. Greenland
Because
the climate of the Arctic is ill-suited for agriculture and lacks forageable
plant matter for much of the year, the traditional Inuit diet is unusually low
in carbohydrates and high in fat and animal protein. In the absence of
carbohydrates, protein is broken down in the liver through gluconeogenesis and
utilized as an energy source. Inuit studied in the 1970s were found to have
abnormally large livers, presumably to assist in this process. Their urine
volumes were also high, a result of the excess urea produced by
gluconeogenesis.[9]
Traditional
Inuit diets derive, at most, 35-40% of their calories from protein, with 50-75%
of calories preferably coming from fat. This high fat content provides valuable
energy and prevents protein poisoning, which historically was sometimes a
problem in late winter when game animals grew lean through winter starvation.
Because the fats of the Inuit's wild-caught game are largely monounsaturated
and rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the diet does not pose the same health risks
as a typical Western high-fat diet.[10]
Vitamins
and minerals which are typically derived from plant sources are nonetheless
present in most Inuit diets. Vitamins A and D are present in the oils and
livers of cold-water fishes and mammals. Vitamin C is obtained through sources
such as caribou liver, kelp, whale skin, and seal brain; because these foods
are typically eaten raw or frozen, the vitamin C they contain, which would be
destroyed by cooking, is instead preserved.[11]
Perceived
benefits of the diet[edit]
Arctic char fishing
The
Inuit believe that their diet has many benefits over the western
"Qallunaat" food. They are adamant about proving that their diet will
make one stronger, warmer, and full of energy.
One
example is the drinking of seal blood. When interviewing an Inuit elder,
Searles was told that "Inuit food generates a strong flow of blood, a
condition considered to be healthy and indicative of a strong body."[6]
After the consumption of seal blood and meat, one could look at their veins in
the wrist for proof of the strength that Inuit food provides.[6] The veins
would expand and darken and, as Kristen Borré observed, "the person's
blood becomes fortified and improves in color and thickness."[12] Borré
states that "seal blood is seen as fortifying human blood by replacing
depleted nutrients and rejuvenating the blood supply, it is considered a
necessary part of the Inuit diet."[12]
Inuit
also believe that their meat-rich diet keeps them warmer. They say that in
comparison to store-bought food, Inuit food takes effects on one's body when
eaten consistently. One Inuk, Oleetoa, who ate a combination of
"Qallunaat" and Inuit food, told of a story of his cousin Joanasee
who ate a diet consisting of mostly Inuit food. The two compared their
strengths, warmth, and energy and found that Joanasee benefited most based on
his diet.[6]
Eating
habits and food preparation[edit]
Searles
defines Inuit food as mostly "eaten frozen, raw, or boiled, with very
little mixture of ingredients and with very few spices added."[6] Inuit
only eat two main meals a day, but it is common to eat many snacks every
hour.[13] Customs among the Inuit when eating and preparing food are very
strict and may seem odd for people of different cultures.[13]
One
common way to eat the meat hunted is frozen. Many hunters will eat the food
that they hunt on location where they found it. This keeps their blood flowing
and their bodies warm. One peculiar custom of eating meat at the hunting site
pertains to fish. In Overland to Starvation Cove: A History, Heinrich Klutschak
explains the custom: "...no fish could be eaten in a cooked state on the
spot where caught but could only be enjoyed raw; only when one is a day's march
away from the fishing site is it permitted to cook the fish over the flame of a
blubber lamp."[13]
When
eating a meal, Inuit place slabs of large meat, blubber, and other parts of the
animal on a piece of metal, plastic, or cardboard on the floor.[6] From here,
anyone in the house is able to cut off a piece of meat. At these meals, no one
is obliged to join in the meal; Inuit eat only when hungry.[6] Sometimes,
though, meals are announced to the whole camp. A woman does this by the shout
of "Ujuk!" which means "cooked meat".[13]
After
a hunt, the eating habits differ from normal meals.[12] When a seal is brought
home, the hunters quickly gather around it to receive their pieces of meat
first. This happens because the hunters are the coldest and hungriest among the
camp and need the warm seal blood and meat to warm them.[12] The seal is cut in
a specific way directly after a hunt. Borré explains the cutting of the seal is
this way "one of the hunters slits the abdomen laterally, exposing the
internal organs. Hunters first eat pieces of liver or they use a tea cup to
gather some blood to drink."[12] At this time, hunters may also chop up
pieces of fat and the brain to mix together and eat with meat.[12]
Women
and children are accustomed to eating different parts of the seal because they
wait until the hunters are done eating. Intestines are the first thing to be
chosen and then any leftover pieces of the liver are consumed.[12] Finally,
ribs and backbone are eaten and any remaining meat is distributed among the
camp.[12]
Food
sharing[edit]
Origin[edit]
Inuit
are known for their practice of food sharing, a form of food distribution where
one person catches the food and shares with the entire community. Food sharing
was first documented among the Inuit in 1910 when a little girl decided to take
a platter around to four neighboring families who had no food of their own.[14]
Sharing of frozen, aged walrus meat among
Inuit families.
Food
sharing today[edit]
In
Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut, it is said that "food sharing was
necessary for the physical and social welfare of the entire group."[7]
Younger couples would give food from their hunt to the elders, most often their
parents, as a sign of respect. Food sharing was not only a tradition, but also
a way for families to make bonds with one another. Once you shared food with
someone, you were in a "lifelong partnership" with them.[7]
Inuit
often are relentless in making known that they are not like Qallunaat in the
sense that they do not eat the same food and they are communal with their food.
Qallunaat believe that the person who purchases the food is the owner of the
food and is free to decide what happens to the food. Searles describes the Inuit
perspective on food by saying that "in the Inuit world of goods, foods as
well as other objects associated with hunting, fishing, and gathering are more
or less communal property, belonging not to individuals but to a larger group,
which can include multiple households." Food in an Inuit household is not
meant to be saved for the family who has hunted, fished, gathered, or purchased
it, but instead for anyone who is in need of it. Searles and his wife were
visiting a family in Iqaluit and he asked for permission to have a cup of
orange juice. This small gesture of asking was taken as offensive because Inuit
do not consider food belonging to one person.[6]
Beliefs
in diet[edit]
Main
article: Inuit mythology
Inuit
choose their diet based on four concepts, according to Borré: "the
relationship between animals and humans, the relationship between the body and
soul and life and health, the relationship between seal blood and Inuit blood,
and diet choice." Inuit are especially spiritual when it comes to the customs
of hunting, cooking, and eating. The Inuit belief is that the combination of
animal and human blood in one's bloodstream creates a healthy human body and
soul.[12]
Hunting
beliefs[edit]
One
particular belief that Inuit strongly believe in is the relationship between
seal and Inuit. According to Inuit hunters and elders, hunters and seals have
an agreement that allows the hunter to capture and feed from the seal if only
for the hunger of the hunter's family. Borré explains that through this
alliance "both hunter and seal are believed to benefit: the hunter is able
to sustain the life of his people by having a reliable source of food, and the
seal, through its sacrifice, agrees to become part of the body of the
Inuit."[12]
Inuit
are under the belief that if they do not follow the alliances that their
ancestors have laid out, the animals will disappear because they have been
offended and will cease to reproduce.[12]
Healing
beliefs[edit]
Borré
tells of a time when she saw an Inuit woman fall ill who blamed her sickness on
the lack of seal in her diet. Once receiving seal meat, the woman felt better
within hours and explained that her quick recovery was due to the consumption
of seal meat and blood. Borré experienced this many times among many different
members of the group and they all attributed their sickness to the lack of
Inuit food.[12]
A
commonality seen among hunters and young men is that they very rarely fall ill
because of their high consumption of seal meat to maintain strength to
hunt.[12]
---------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.