kdmallory
After educating myself on Inuit rights and animal activist organizations, I realized I made an error in judgment. I, like millions and millions of humans, am an animal lover. And unfortunately, while some animal rights groups seek to preserve animal rights, at times, their work severely undermines the Norwegian Sami and Canadian (probably the Greenlandic) Inuit way of life. Here’s the short message I wrote to World Ocean Day and if you too would like to educate yourself on this topic, check out the documentary: Angry Inuk by Inuit seal activist Alethea Arnaquq-Baril.
Dear World Ocean Day,
I am writing to inquire about your organization’s use of a seal image on a poster that says “You can help seals have a safe home in the ocean!” I’m sure your organization is familiar with the 2009 EU ban on seal hunting which adversely affects Canadian and Greenlandic Inuit who provide for their families and communities by hunting seal and using the entire animal to make goods such as boots, mitts, coats, etc. The hunter’s ability to use the meat and skin of this animal allows them to become a part of the global economy. The sale of these goods in the open market creates a more stable and better quality of life for Inuit who, like all other humans on this planet, need money for survival. Your use of this image is strikingly close in appearance to the one used in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and I’m wondering if the World Ocean Day (like IFAW) campaign while advocating for animal rights, in the end, is just another way of dealing a deadly blow to the Indigenous groups that export seal products as a way of contributing to the global market and providing for their families. I urge you to reconsider your use of this seal image and remember that some of the policies animal activists create have a way of undercutting indigenous values which are just as important and sacred as our own.