Inuit denounce proposed EU seal-products ban despite exemption

Canada's Inuit say they will continue to fight the European Union's proposed ban on seal products even though it now contains an exemption for them.

The EU's parliamentary committee voted Monday in support of a strict trade ban, but included a limited exemption for seal products from the Inuit of Canada and Greenland.

But Inuit officials say the exemption is not enough, pointing to a recent auction where not one of Nunavut's 10,000 sealskin pelts were purchased by buyers who were wary of the upcoming ban.

Nunavut's deputy minister of the environment, Simon Awa, has tried to get that message across in Europe.

"I told them as an Inuk I don't want to be used anymore," he said. "They say Inuit won't be affected, but that is not the case."

The territorial government thinks the EU is simply using the Inuit exemption to make the proposed ban more acceptable, Environment Minister Daniel Shewchuk said.

"It looks like Inuit are being used as a scapegoat in this decision and it's not fair to the Inuit," he said.

The national Inuit organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami agrees, saying any benefit intended by the exemption would be negated by the ban itself.

The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the proposed ban April 2. The European Council will then make a decision on the matter, likely in June.