Protest Canadian Embassy - May 12th 1pm

by Cabhog Mon May 03, 2004 22:21

This reminds me very much of a statement by the Green Party in which they called for a boycott of Iceland because they have resumed whaling.

What strikes me when I here these calls for Boycotts is that they are totally out of proportion to the alleged action.

Brilliant, a seal cub is kiled, therefore deprive a family of their income and hope they starve, that will teach those damn canadians.

no main stream group called for Irish citizens to boycott american goods, not to travel to america or not to work for americians at the time of the Iraqi crisis. Yet we should do it for 1,000,000 seals, and not the oft quoted 10,000 Iraqis.

ridiculous.

by David C. Mon May 03, 2004 22:43

There are few nations on this planet that are as environmentally aware and as socially responsible as Canada. I remember when Canada was the only country willing to confront Spain's rape of fisheries in International waters - many Irish fishermen flew the Canadian flag on their boats that summer. From the environment to social justice to peacekeeping to ethnic diversity, Canada is an example to us all.

To protest their seal cull - which is obviously driven by the 'cuteness' factor - may be valid, but is still a silly and unnecessary action which detracts from real problems.

by activist Tue May 04, 2004 03:08

If this was a case of humane ecological management then why are big sticks involved?

Join the protest.

"Culling"

by Clubber the Seal - None Fri May 07, 2004 06:34 Anon

What a load of bollox - go and get a life... the bloody seals are a nuisance and need to be dealt with. Do you think that the Canadian government are doing this for the sake of it?, don't you think they have invested some thought & expert advice into this culling, they do not take it lightly & are not doing it for the sake of not having anything else better to do...

You'd be better of spending your time campaigning at Dublin zoo to improve the environment of the animals cooped up there. Focus on your own doorstep by dealing with the real issues closer to home before bothering the Canadians.

by Cabhog Fri May 07, 2004 09:44

The massive growth in the seal population in canada is reportedly to blame for a subsequent fall in fish stocks.

If killling a million seals keeps people in jobs, then I'm all for it.

by Pamela Fri May 07, 2004 11:19

Cabhog has instructed us that 'seals kill fish'. But are these not 'Canadian' seals? A compromise protest might be that we should organise against 'Canadian seals' - not against Canada, as such. We might not go so far as actually clubbing them (an extreme form of protest, I would suggest), but we could take ourselves off to the Canadian tundra and blow whistles at them!

by martin Tue May 11, 2004 21:05

...cull animals here too? foxes, goats, etc, that have no surviving natural predators (albeit, because we killed them all and destroyed their natural habitat...) have their numbers controlled by culling. now, true, it may not be on such a great scale, or as widely publicised as battered baby blubber seals, but surely it's the same principle? so, although i'm not unsympathetic to the animal rights' movement, following your cause to its logical conclusion *hysteria! they're so cute! hysteria! boycott!* would suggest we all leave ireland, for fear that the government might think we approve of their animal-control methods...hmm...

by Andrea Wed May 12, 2004 18:02 amcimino9 at aol dot com

I hope everybody who can attends this demo!!!

I'm an American, and honestly, I would have welcomed a boycott from Ireland and other European countries because of our war-mongering!!!! Maybe it would have stopped Bush.

We should confront large scale cruelty, whether to animals or people, wherever it exists, Ireland, US, Iraq, Canada, or wherever. Canada's seal hunt is the largest and most brutal slaughter of marine mammals in the world. It's hardly a trivial issue.

Canada may be one of the most socially progressive countries in the world, but it needs to seriously catch up environmentally. It heavily subsidizes its timber industry, doesn't even have anything resembling an endangered species act, depleted its fisheries, and now has declared war on seals.

Two more points- there is no scientific evidence that the seals are hindering the recovery of the cod (and may actually help the cod since seals eat cod predators) and the average sealer (mostly fishermen looking for extra money) only makes about $1000 Canadian dollars from the one month seal hunt, hardly a substancial income. The Canadian government should be doing more to help these people find good jobs instead of subsidizing cruelty.

by Jacqui Wed May 26, 2004 13:02 flakie at vodafone dot ie

Do you even look into things before you speak?

Canada DOES have endangered species legislation.

http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/legislation/default_e.cfm

Canada's government is extremely sensitive to these issues and I'm sure they knew all the boycott happy people would jump on this before they even did it.

There is extensive monitoring in place to ensure hunters are being humaine and warnings have been issued to the ones that aren't.

Seal hunting is part of the inuit and native heritage in Canada as much as it is part of the survival of the later european settlers.

Canada's natural resources are responsibly managed compared to most countries. Especially compared to the US which is a disaster with regards to human rights, natural resource management and environmental and conservation initiatives.