Some Inuit, including Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, producer of the film "Angry Inuk," claim that efforts to end the commercial seal "hunt" hurt them. They say that bans on seal skin imports, like the European Union 2009 seal product import ban, have resulted in lower prices for seal pelts and that their ability to earn a livelihood has suffered as a result. The truth is that the Nunavut territorial government pays them a guaranteed, fixed (high) price, regardless of how market prices change for seal skins.
The Nunavut government does not stop there. It provides several other subsidies to sealers and seal skin tailors and business owners as well. The only subsidy that is lost when the market price for seal fur declines is the provision of excess funds over the fixed price per pelt that is sometimes obtained from the fur auction to which the government sends Nunavut's excess seal pelts.
What's more, sealing has never been a real industry in Nunavut. As Nunatsiaq Online's editorial board wrote in 2010, "in 2007-08, more than one year prior to the EU seal ban, only 1,101 Nunavut seal pelts, bought from hunters by the Government of Nunavut, were sold at auction, generating a grand total of $61,551 in sales. That represents less than the total salary earned by one low-level GN worker.
In 2008-09, Nunavut sales were better: 4,059 pelts, for a total of $155,485.
The seal hunt in Newfoundland, on the other hand, generates about $7 million a year, based on an annual cull of up to 280,000 seals."
In "Angry Inuk," Alethea Arnaquq-Baril claims, "It's been about a year since the new ban was passed. Before the ban, Inuit were selling about 60,000 skins a year. Now we're selling less than half that number. And the prices for each skin fell from around a hundred dollars down to about 10 dollars."
This claim is directly contradicted by the Nunavut government's report on Inuit sealing and the effect of the EU seal import ban.
According to the Nunavut government's report (see pp. 17 - 28 for English translation), from 2002 to 2007, the total number of Nunavut ringed seal skins sold ranged from 5,000 to about 8,400, with an average of less than 7,200 skins per year. This average is about 20% of the number of harp seals killed in the East coast commercial harp seal slaughter in 2015, which was the smallest number of harp seals killed since 1993.
The total number of ringed seals killed by Inuit each year is approximately 30,000, according to the Nunavut report. Thus most seal skins are used within the community.
The report exposes that the average annual pelt price of Nunavut seal skins ranged from about CAN$33 to CAN$71 during this six year period preceding the EU import ban, with the average over that period being about CAN$54. In the two years post-ban shown in the chart, pelt sales and prices were stable at about 4,000 pelts commanding CAN$16 - CAN$17 on average. Total revenues are thus shown as being about CAN$167,000 in 2002, rising to about CAN$500,000 in 2006 (when Carino admitted to having paid exorbitant prices for harp seal pelts) and declining to about CAN$440,000 in 2007. Post-EU ban revenues were about CAN$100,000 in 2010 and 2011.
If Inuit who make their living hunting seals saw a reduction in their income, it is important to ask how many Inuit were affected. According to the 2016 federal government census, only 155 people in Nunavut made their living in one or more of the categories "Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting." That number was 110 in 2006, before the EU seal pelt import ban.
As the Nunavut government report confirms, "Seals have been vital to human survival in the Canadian Arctic for thousands of years, and subsistence continues to be the primary motivation for Inuit hunting of seals." It goes on to say, "The cash generated from the sale of sealskins that are a byproduct of the traditional subsistence hunt, finances continued hunting activities which have become increasingly expensive due to higher capital and operating costs." Higher costs are due to the modernization of seal hunting - using snowmobiles and rifles rather than the traditional spears and wooden boats.
But the cash generated from Inuit sealing, since well before the EU ban, has been minimal.
On the other hand, federal government funds provided to Nunavut are substantial, especially when compared with the funds provided to Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec.
And the federal government continues to provide millions of federal dollars to support and promote Inuit sealing and trade in seal skins obtained by Inuit.
What does the government of Nunavut do with its funds? According to the 2015-6 Nunavut government report on grants and contributions given to individuals and organizations, much more money is provided to organizations, associations, and individuals for hunting, sealing, meat distribution, seal clothing production workshops, and general assistance than would be lost if Inuit could not sell any seal skins outside Nunavut. And no matter what happens with seal product import bans around the world, Inuit are still able to sell to the Canadian population, which exceeds 39,000,000.
If the 155 Nunavut hunters need more money for their capital and operational needs beyond the tens of millions that are already being given to them, surely the government can grant more funds to assist them. Perhaps they can reduce funding of the hockey, soccer, and volleball associations, which together received CAN $1.43 million, a substantial amount, considering that there are only 35,944 people in Nunavut and they probably don't all play these sports.
