AR-News: Green Party to debate resolution reversing support for seal hunt

Sat Apr 17 09:12:34 EDT 2004

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20040416/ca_pr_on_na/seal_protest_3
Green Party to debate resolution reversing support for seal hunt

      Fri Apr 16, 6:59 PM ET  

STEVE FAIRBAIRN 

TORONTO (CP) - A senior Green Party official said Friday the party might reverse its support of Canada's controversial seal hunt as a tiny band of activists shouted "shame" outside its downtown office. 

"We're not saying we have all the answers, we're asking different questions and allowing this process to be fluid," said Peter Elgie, national campaign director for the Green Party. 

Elgie said a resolution reversing a position adopted in 2002 to endorse the East Coast hunt is to be voted on at a Green Party membership meeting in Calgary in August. 

Twenty protesters armed with a megaphone and signs condemned the party's backing of the hunt, in which seals are shot and clubbed for their pelts. 

"They're supposed to be saving the planet, and they're not doing a very good job of it," said Suzanne Lahaie, co-founder of the animal rights group Freedom for Animals, a reference to Green's longtime focus on environmental issues. 

"At one time they (the Green Party) said they wanted to support the Earth and the animals, now they want to support the seal hunt," said Glenna Supurkas, 51, from Toronto. 

None of the major political parties oppose the seal hunt and that makes it difficult to decide who to vote for, said Supurkas. 

"They're all pretty hopeless," she said of the parties. 

The issue of the seal hunt has been a thorn in the Green Party's side. 

The national and Newfoundland wing of the party clashed over the issue several years ago. 

The Newfoundland wing was concerned about creating a secure future for rural communities. 

The feud ended in 2002 when the federal party endorsed a sustainable fishery for harp and hood seals in Atlantic Canada. 

Because Paul Martin's Liberals could call a spring election, it's unclear which position the Green Party will campaign on. 

Green Party Leader Jim Harris has thrown his support behind the move to oppose the hunt, as have a number of prominent party members, said Elgie. 

The protesters didn't seem satisfied with Elgie's carrot of a resolution opposing the harvest of seals. 

"Not good enough," said Lahaie. "I want it signed on the dotted line in black. Right now, it's red blood from the seals." 

Sealers took to the ice off Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island this Spring to bag this year's catch. 

A management plan that Ottawa finalized last year allows 12,000 licensed seal hunters to catch as many as 975,000 harp seals between 2003 and 2005. 

Elgie said he doesn't think a protest touching on the environment will necessarily be construed as a black eye for the Green Party. 

"I see it as democracy and people learning from each other," he said. 

Green has never won a seat in any provincial or federal election since it formed in the early 1980s. 

Elgie refused to speculate whether the seal flap might cost the party votes. 

"It may, it may not," said Elgie. "I'll leave that up to the voters." 

the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
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