[LINK] "Canada, EU edge toward agreement on Inuit sealskin products"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC notes that Canada and the European Union are entering discussions on enabling the import of Inuit-made sealskin products into the European Union. I'm not sure what I think of this, issues with the seal hunt aside. If a European market doesn't really exist, and if similar products from elsewhere in Canada (Newfoundland) don't have like access, is this really a durable exception?

Canada and the EU are working towards a way to separate the Inuit seal harvest from that of the East Coast seal hunt, so Canadian Inuit can take full advantage of an exemption for skins harvested by indigenous people under the 2009 EU seal ban.

In 2009, the 28-nation EU banned the import of seal products except for skins harvested by indigenous people.

The problem for Canadian Inuit is that there has been no recognized way to separate their harvest from that of the East Coast seal hunt.

Terry Audla, president of Canada's national Inuit group, says that's what Canada and the EU are now working towards.

Audla says a deal won't solve the problem of low prices for seal products caused by the import ban.

“We always said that the exemption itself was an empty box because we share the same market dynamic as the East Coast sealers,” Audla says.