This enactment designates May 20 as “National Seal Products Day”.

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;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons, enacts as follows: