Kinship Circle | Letter Campaigns

3/7/09: Canada Seal Bill Dropped, No Debate. Demand End To Killing.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION / BACKGROUND

UPDATE - 5/5/09: Canadian Sealers Lose Biggest Customer — EUROPE!
SOURCE: EU seal ban a 'black day for Atlantic Canada' Industry

The European Parliament votes overwhelmingly to ban seal items from import/export across the European Union's 27 nations. It's a positive leap for the seals who Kinship Circle — along with many other animal groups — have labored to save through action campaigns and education. Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International Canada, calls the seal product ban a "historic moment in the campaign to stop commercial seal hunts around the world." Kinship Circle also salutes Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for its relentless direct intervention on the bloody ice floes.

• End the Seal Hunt: Pass the Harb Seal Bill!
• Canadian senator makes futile bid to ban seal hunt

3/4/09, OTTAWA (AFP) — Faced with the prospect of a European ban on the trade of seal products, Canadian Senator Mac Harb introduced a private members bill that would end the commercial seal slaughter in Canada, but allow the traditional Inuit hunt to continue... The bill failed to gain any support from the start, however, even from Harb's fellow Liberals, and was immediately dropped from the senate's agenda. "This bill was stillborn," a Liberal spokesman told AFP. Canadian senator makes futile bid to ban seal hunt

CONTACT INFORMATION + SAMPLE LETTER

CONTACT INFORMATION • Print/Send This Letter


CANADIAN EMBASSIES ABROAD Embassy of Canada in Washington DC, USA The Honourable Michael Wilson Canadian Ambassador, United States of America 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20001 ph: 202-682-1740; fax: 202-682-7619, 202-682-7726 email: webmaster@canadianembassy.org Canadian Consulates in USA: atnta-td@international.gc.ca, bostn@international.gc.ca, bfalo@international.gc.ca, chcgo@international.gc.ca, dalas- td@international.gc.ca, denvr-g@international.gc.ca, dtrot@international.gc.ca, hston-td@international.gc.ca, lngls@international.gc.ca, miami-td@international.gc.ca, seatl@international.gc.ca, mnpls-td@international.gc.ca, sanjo@international.gc.ca, cngny@international.gc.ca, sfran@international.gc.ca, sndgo-td@international.gc.ca Mission of Canada to the European Union The Honourable Ross Hornby Avenue de Tervuren 2 1040 Brussels, Belgium ph: +32 0(2) 741 0681, +32 0(2) 741 0660 fax: +32 0(2) 741 0623, +32 0(2) 741 0629 email: ross.hornby@international.gc.ca, danielle.cassivi@international.gc.ca, jean.saint-jacques@international.gc.ca Permanent Mission of Canada to United Nations One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza 885 Second Avenue, 14th Floor; New York, NY 10017 ph: (1) 212-848-1100; fax: (1) 212-848-1195, -1192, -1128 email: canada@un.int, prmny@international.gc.ca SOURCE: www.international.gc.ca/ciw- cdm/embassies-ambassades.aspx?lang=eng FIND CANADIAN EMBASSY FOR YOUR COUNTRY, IF NOT LISTED ABOVE: www.international.gc.ca/ciw-cdm/embassies- ambassades.aspx?lang=eng RUSSIAN OFFICIALS Prime Minister Vladimir Putin web mail: premier.gov.ru/eng/mail/step2.html (maximum 5,000 characters; shorten sample letter) SOURCE: premier.gov.ru/eng/mail/step1.html Dmitry Medvedev, President, Russian Federation Kremlin, Moscow, RUSSIA email: webmaster@gov.ru Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation The Honorable Minister Yurii Petrovich Trutnev 4/6 Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street Moscow 123812, RUSSIA ph: +7 (095) 254-4800 fax: +7 (095) 254-6610, 254-4310 email: admin@mnr.gov.ru, admin@cbi-mpr.ru, kukosh@mnr.gov.ru, tveritinov@mnr.gov.ru SOURCE: www.mnr.gov.ru/part/?pid=398 Russian State Fisheries Committee Mr. Vladimir Shevlyakov, Attache on Fisheries with the Embassy of the Russian Federation in USA 1609 Decature Street, NW; Washington, DC 20011 ph: 202-726-3838; fax: 202-726-0090 email: rusfishatt@starpower.net SOURCE: www.russianembassy.org/embassy/minfish.htm Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov email: dip@mid.ru • SOURCE: www.mid.ru Russian Ministry of Agriculture email: info@gov.mcx.ru • SOURCE: www.mcx.ru		PARLIAMENT OF CANADA, http://www2.parl.gc.ca Senator Mac Harb The Senate of Canada, Parliament Buildings Ottawa, Ontario; Canada K1A 0A4 ph: 613-996-2379; fax: 613-996-2318 email: harbm@sen.parl.gc.ca Noël A. Kinsella, Speaker of the Senate ph: 613-992-4416; fax: 613-992-9772 email: kinsen@sen.parl.gc.ca Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, Speaker pro tempore ph: 613-947-8011; fax: 613-947-8013 email: losier@sen.parl.gc.ca Marjory LeBreton, Leader of the Government in the Senate — ph: 613-943-0756; fax: 613-943-1493 email: lebrem@sen.parl.gc.ca Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons — House of Commons; Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 ph: 613-996-1955: fax: 613-996-1958 email: Milliken.P@parl.gc.ca Andrew Scheer, Deputy Speaker & Chairman of Committees of Whole of the House of Commons — ph: 613-992-4593; fax: 613-996-3120; email: Scheer.A@parl.gc.ca Jay D. Hill, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons ph: 613-947-4524; fax: 613-947-4527 email: Hill.J@parl.gc.ca CANADIANS ONLY - WRITE ELECTED OFFICIALS MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Lists/Members.aspx MEMBERS OF THE SENATE www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/compilations/senate.aspx? Menu=Senate EUROPEAN UNION, europa.eu Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Commissioner Joe Borg European Commission; B-1049 Brussels email: Cabinet-Borg@ec.europa.eu European Parliament Committee on Fisheries: ip-PECH@europarl.europa.eu SOURCE: europa.eu/pol/fish/index_en.htm José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission — 1049 Brussels, Belgium Spokesperson: leonor.ribeiro-da-silva@ec.europa.eu web mail: ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/contact /mail/index_en.htm European Commission, public opinion: eurobarometer@ec.europa.eu Czech Presidency of the EU Council: public@eu2009.cz European Food And Safety Authority: info@efsa.europa.eu CONTACTS, ALL EUROPEAN UNION AGENCIES: europa.eu/geninfo/mailbox/inst_en.htm

SAMPLE LETTER • Print/Send This Letter

Honorable Government Officials:

I am dismayed by the recent dismissal of a bill to end Canada's commercial harp seal hunt. Senator Mac Harb's amendment to the Fisheries Act sought to ban seal slaughter in Canadian waters, with immunity for aboriginal peoples.

Senator Harb told the press that "in the face of disappearing markets for seal products and overwhelming international opposition, it is time for Canada to recognize that we can't resuscitate this dying industry.” The bill was deleted from the senate's agenda without debate.

Please use your influence as a spokesperson for Canadians and citizens of the world to advocate an end to this contentious hunt. I urge you to revive Senator Harb's bill — and finally accept that most Americans, Europeans, and even Canadians oppose the word's largest marine mammal massacre.

The Harb Seal Bill coincides with a declining seal market. Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia, the United States and Mexico already prohibit seal products. On March 2, 2009, IMCO (Internal Market and Consumer Protection) MEPs voted 25-7 to bar seal items from import/export throughout the European Union. By April 1 the full Parliament will vote on the EU's pending trade ban on all non-aboriginal seal goods.

It's hard to defend the annual clubbing or shooting of over a quarter million seals, 98% of whom range from 2 weeks to 3 months in age. The March 2009 hunt off Canada's east coast promises no change. Sealers ambush whelping grounds to gun down, bludgeon, kick, and thrash pups with hakapiks. The take in 2008 was over 217,000 seals, with 99.8% under 3 months old.

Hunters commonly hook seals without verifying unconsciousness or death. Photos depict sealers dragging alert animals with boathooks. A team of impartial veterinarians once concluded 42% of examined seals were still awake when skinned.

I've copied my comments to EU and Russian officials to let them know I back all legislation that bans commercial sealing around the world. Please support passage of the Harb Seal Bill. It's time.

Thank you,

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