Retract the Senate Report: Sealing the Future!

A threat to the democratic rights of all Canadian citizens is contained in a Senate report that proposes an authoritarian reversal of our rights to free speech.

We must make sure that this proposal is challenged and that this Senate report is withdrawn. Authoritarianism is gaining ground in nations around the world, and we Canadians must be vigilant to protect our own rights to free speech and to challenge our own governments – rights that are basic to free societies.

The fishing and fur industries, their lobbyists, and biased or uninformed federal politicians—both Members of Parliament and Senators—are ramping ...

A threat to the democratic rights of all Canadian citizens is contained in a Senate report that proposes an authoritarian reversal of our rights to free speech.

We must make sure that this proposal is challenged and that this Senate report is withdrawn. Authoritarianism is gaining ground in nations around the world, and we Canadians must be vigilant to protect our own rights to free speech and to challenge our own governments – rights that are basic to free societies.

The fishing and fur industries, their lobbyists, and biased or uninformed federal politicians—both Members of Parliament and Senators—are ramping up the pressure on the federal government to expand the Canadian commercial seal hunt. In 2024, the 14 Canadian Senators who had comprised the Senate’s Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ produced a report on Canada’s commercial seal hunts and sealing industry, “Sealing the Future: A Call to Action”. The report contains misinformation and attacks against seal-hunt opponents. Those 14 Senators had recommended expanding the Canadian commercial seal hunt by trying to persuade the European Union (EU) to end its ban on the sale of seal products. Propping up a dying 17^th century industry at considerable public expense seems to be more about seeking votes for Members of Parliament than creating meaningful economic opportunities for Canadians in remote regions.

Those Senators also proposed monitoring the activities of Canadians who disagree with Canada’s pro-sealing policy. This authoritarian proposal must be retracted.

For the protection of your own democratic rights, for Canada’s international reputation, and for animals, don’t let this stand.

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Contact Your MP to Retract the Senate Report: Sealing the Future

To protect the lives of seals and our own democratic rights too, we urge you to TAKE ACTION TODAY, and share this petition widely.

We are asking you to urge your Member of Parliament (MP) to insist that the Senate report: “Sealing the Future: A Call to Action” be retracted. The Canadian seal hunt has long been a contentious issue, but this Senate report contains highly problematic inaccuracies and misinformation regarding the relationship between seals and fish. The report risks threatening Canada’s international reputation for sound environmental practices and treatment of wildlife.

But this report goes far beyond the usual controversy about killing seals. This Senate report contains proposals that attack the democratic rights of environmentalists and animal advocates – people like you and me.

Fourteen unelected Senators actually recommend that people who donate more than $5000 to animal advocacy charities or not-for-profits that publish information that contradicts that promoted by governmental sources should have their names provided to federal authorities.

Further, animal advocacy or environmental charities that publish information challenging claims made by the seal-trade industry and their political supporters could have their charitable tax-exempt status revoked, if the 14 Senators have their way.

We citizens have a right – and a responsibility – to hold governments accountable, and should not be persecuted, suppressed or monitored for presenting our own research and opinions. Political dissent is a bedrock of free democracies and is essential to maintaining free societies.

This undemocratic report must be retracted. Allowing tyrannical ideas like this to stand is how we citizens can have our rights eroded.

Please – act now. Sadly, around the world we see increasing threats to democratic rights, rights that took decades, even centuries to establish. The erosion of our rights cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.

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Subject:

I am writing today to express my opposition to a Senate report entitled “Sealing the Future: A Call to Action”, regarding Canada’s commercial seal hunt. It is very concerning to learn that the report produced by 14 Canadian Senators is not only filled with inaccuracies and misinformation but also makes a troubling recommendation that the Government of Canada require registered Canadian charities and non-profit organizations to fill out information returns about donors, which includes a public information return that lists each donor whose total gifts to the organization in the year exceed $5,000.

I am deeply concerned about the purpose of compiling this list of donors, as its intent appears to be to intimidate. We are seeing an erosion of democratic rights and norms in various nations. We Canadians must be vigilant against erosion of our rights, and be resistant to creeping authoritarianism. Any erosion of our rights to free public discourse and accountability from our governmental agencies must be protected before almost all else. Without these protections, vigorously defended, no other rights and securities have meaning.

We citizens have a right to question the claims made by any governmental agency or ministry when we have data, research and expert opinions that challenge the accepted government view of the day. We have a right to oppose our own government’s position on Canada’s commercial seal hunt when done so in good faith and in appropriate ways.  We have a right – and a responsibility – to hold governments accountable. Political dissent is a bedrock of free democracies and is necessary to maintain free societies. I trust that you too see the essential nature of free, well-intentioned public discourse.

This threat to democracy, coming from unelected representatives in Canada’s Senate, is unacceptable, and the report must not stand unchallenged.

The romanticization of the killing of marine mammals to prop up a highly subsidized, outdated industry of negligent economic value is deeply upsetting. The peoples of Canada’s Atlantic and northern regions deserve better economic opportunities than the continuation of a 17th century industry that has long outlived its value.

This hunt has created a global stain on Canada’s reputation and now, so does this Senate report.

If you have not yet read “Sealing the Future”, I urge you to do so, and do all you can to influence the Senate committee to retract this report.

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