The Fur Institute of Canada’s Board of Directors formed the Sealing Committee in June 2006 to ensure that factual information on seals and sealing in Canada is made available from primary sources, on a timely basis, to the general public, media and legislators in Canada and around the world. Since that time, the Committee has developed a Seals and Sealing Network of stakeholders to address a wide range of concerns held by people throughout the Maritime provinces, the Arctic, coastal Quebec, British Columbia, and Newfoundland and Labrador and other sealing nations including Greenland, Norway, Namibia, Finland, Sweden and Russia. The Network provides a venue to manage these concerns together, and a way for remotely based people to have a greater voice in support of sound conservation principles and sustainable use practices.

This diverse group includes sealers, Inuit, veterinarians, biologists, industry representatives, researchers, international partners, specialists involved in Omega- 3 research, and government representatives at the Provincial/Territorial and Federal levels.

A Shift in Mandate: Originally set up as a communications body to help promote positive messages about sealing, the Sealing Committee’s focus shifted to include strategy development and government relations when it was learned in September 2006 that the current strategic approach (which focused on correcting misinformation) was highly unlikely to succeed. As a result, the last year has seen the Sealing Committee and SSN members focused heavily on motivating the Government of Canada to complement their strategy of “correcting misinformation” by proactively challenging proposed EU bans and working with the European and Canadian governments to protect sound conservation principles as they relate to sealing and to all wildlife management activities.