Nunavut has joined forces with Newfoundland and Labrador to fight those opposed to the seal hunt in Canada, following a meeting between government leaders in Iqaluit on Monday.

Up until now, Nunavut has tried to maintain a distance between the Inuit traditional harvest of seals for food and the controversial commercial seal hunt on the East Coast.

Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik says a proposed European seal ban affects the Inuit, who rely on the hunt to sustain and provide food for their families.

"We'll continue to be one of the defenders of the seal hunt because it's in our interest to see and spread the market," Okalik said.

European Parliament lawmakers issued a declaration in September 2006 demanding the European Union ban seal products in Europe to protest Canada's seal hunt.

Early in February of this year, the British began pushing for a European Union ban on seal products, despite the EU's executive commission rejection of a ban in late January.

Won't ignore activists

Newfoundland Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout says the province is taking a new tack on the seal issue, choosing to challenge animal rights activists instead of ignoring them.

His province has both a traditional Inuit hunt in Nunatsiavut and the commercial hunt, which puts $70 million into the pockets of people who are normally unemployed every winter.
 
"We're not going to be content to sit back and have lies, in particular, misinformed opinion, go unchallenged so we're going to be proactive from here on in, defending the seal hunt of a sustainable resource humanely harvested," Rideout said.