There are no shortage of ways to trip yourself up in the emotionally saturated mire where animal cruelty meets cultural relativism. I’m usually happy to leave such mine fields alone, but rare is the opportunity for me to talk about my homeland, my nowland, and clubbing baby seals all in one breath.
This past week Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was in Beijing to announce a long-fought for deal to open up the Chinese market for importing of Canadian seal products. The deal was made all the more important after the seal products industry lost a huge portion of its market after the European Union banned seal products in ’09.
The news sparked a tirade of outcrying from animal rights groups everywhere, but none so sound-bitey as professor Lu Di, director of the China Small Animal Protection Association, who said:
“Seal products have been rejected by the majority of Canadians and people in Europe and North America. It is insulting for Canada to market these products in China. The perception of Canada’s sealing industry that the Chinese eat everything and the Chinese people do not care about animal suffering is indicative of the racist and cultural imperialistic attitude towards non-western societies still held by some Canadians.”
