Nunavut MLA calls for EU alcohol ban

A Nunavut politician wants alcohol from European Union countries banned in the territory, in response to the EU's ban on seal products.

South Baffin MLA Fred Schell plans to introduce a motion Friday calling for the alcohol ban, saying the Nunavut and Canadian governments should retaliate against the EU for its trade ban on seal products from Canada and other sealing countries.

Nunavut has opposed the EU's ban, which was approved by the European Parliament last year, as it could hurt the traditional Inuit seal hunt in the territory.

"Why the government's liquor commission is still selling alcohol from the European Union to our constituents?" Schell asked Keith Peterson, the minister responsible for Nunavut's Liquor Act, in the legislative assembly on Thursday.

Schell went so far as to say Canada and othercountries boycotted the sale of alcohol from South Africa in response to that country's apartheid policy, so Canada should do the same with the EU now.

When Schell called on Peterson to ban the sale of EU liquor in Nunavut, Peterson suggested that Schell present a motion in the legislature.

The EU ban includes limited exemptions for seal products derived from traditional Inuit hunts, but Inuit leaders have argued that the exemptions come with a a number of restrictions.

Inuit organizations from Canada and Greenlandfiled a lawsuit against the EU earlier this year, while the Canadian government is challenging the seal product ban at the World Trade Organization.

Symbolic gesture

The idea of an EU alcohol ban in Nunavut already has the support of Iqaluit West MLA Paul Okalik, also the territory's former premier.

"It will not have much of an impact, I'm sure, in their overall trade on their alcoholic beverages to the world," Okalik told CBC News.

"But as a symbolic gesture, I think we should lead the country in banning some products from Europe in response to their rather callous move of banning sealskin from our country."

Schell said he was even disappointed that European finance ministers attending the G7 summit in Iqaluit last month did not attend a traditional Inuit community feast in which seal meat was among the items being served.

"Maybe they could have understood a little bit more [about] what was happening with the sealskin ban," he said.

As for the proposed liquor ban, Schell said he doesn't think constituents would be too upset if they could notorder their favourite bottle of French wine.

"Well, that's their problem," he said.

"Our mainstay here is seal, and it's affecting all the Inuit here in all of Nunavut. So I think they will understand when they see what the reasoning [is] for it."