National Seal Products Day Act (S.C. 2017, c. 5)

Preamble

Whereas human beings have depended on ocean resources, including seals and other marine animals, for nourishment for thousands of years;

Whereas Canada’s Indigenous peoples and coastal communities have developed traditional knowledge of how to use ocean resources;

Whereas this traditional knowledge and the traditions, culture and heritage of Canada’s Indigenous peoples and coastal communities respecting the use of ocean resources should be preserved and recognized;

Whereas the use of ocean resources plays an important economic role for Canada’s Indigenous peoples and coastal communities;

Whereas the extractors of Canada’s ocean resources play an important role in the sustainable management and preservation of populations of wild species and in the maintenance of ecosystemic balance;

Whereas scientific knowledge of and methods for using ocean resources have evolved rapidly in recent years;

Whereas the extraction and use of Canada’s ocean resources are compatible with the contemporary principles of animal protection, sustainable development, ecosystemic management and preventive regulation;

Whereas the extraction and use of Canada’s ocean resources can be reconciled with a respectful and cruelty-free treatment of sea animals;

Whereas the extraction and use of Canada’s ocean resources are compatible with the Convention on Biological Diversity’s objectives of conservation, sustainable use and a fair and equitable sharing;

Whereas the use of Canada’s ocean resources accords with the principle of rational use advocated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature;

Whereas ecosystemic balance is the fruit of a constant interaction between predator and prey;

Whereas the human species is an integral part of the ecosystem and, as a result, its role as a predator cannot be separated from the rest of nature;

Whereas the European Union has declared May 20 to be European Maritime Day in order to recall “the importance of a healthy marine environment both for the sustainability of economic activities on the seas and for the quality of life in coastal regions”;

And whereas the importance of the seal hunt for Canada’s Indigenous people, coastal communities and entire population should be recognized by designating May 20 as National Seal Products Day;