The government of Canada has formally challenged a European Union seal products ban at the World Trade Organisation, it announced Friday after negotiations failed to resolve the trade row. "The government of Canada remains committed to defending Canada's sealing industry," Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said.
"By moving ahead with this World Trade Organisation challenge, we stand behind the thousands of Canadians in coastal and northern communities who depend on the seal harvest to provide a livelihood for their families."
The EU imposed a ban on imports of seal products in August 2010 after a public outcry over its annual commercial seal hunt, which animal rights activists denounce as cruel.
The Canadian government claimed 6,000 Canadian sealers earned an average of 10 million dollars annually from the hunt, with a quarter of it from exports to Europe. "Consultations failed to resolve the matter," Ottawa said in a statement, and so, it added, it is now "requesting the establishment of a WTO dispute settlement panel on this issue."
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