European politicians should resist pressure from the animal rights people and leave Natives out of a ban on fur imports from Canada, says Deputy Grand Chief Kenny Blacksmith.
Kenny was in Brussels in late May to discuss the proposed fur ban with members of the European Parliament.
The ban is likely to come into effect Jan. 1, 1996.
“There certainly would be a lot of effect in Cree communities. Native people would not be able to sell fur to anybody in Europe,” he said.
Currently, 70 per cent of fur harvested by First Nations hunters and trappers is sold to the Europeans.
Kenny lobbied for Native fur to get some kind of an exemption and his efforts met with some success.
“We tried very hard to work around that resolution and ensure that aboriginal and treaty rights are preserved,” he said. “There is some interest. Work still needs to be done on the practicalities.” But bad blood still exists between Canada and the Europeans, who haven’t forgotten that just months ago Canada sent warships to hunt down their turbot fishing fleet. Kenny is concerned that Natives may get “swept under the rug” in the middle of the turbot war.
Canada is also lobbying against the fur ban, but it is using a different arguement than the First Nations. Canada argues the dispute is a trade issue and is warning Europe not to restrict free trade. But Kenny says the real problem is the fur ban will hurt aboriginal and treaty rights.
Faced with these two different lines, the Europeans have been left confused. “The European Parliament has concerns over who they’re going to listen to.” What’s more, Canada has been embarassed by all of Kenny’s talk about aboriginal rights and refused to pay for his trip. The Inuit delegation, which was more docile, had all their expenses paid.
Also in Brussels, Kenny had a chance to explain the problem of clearcutting in James Bay. European politicians asked him to submit a full report and expressed an interest in visiting James Bay to examine the impact of development in the north.
