Senator calls for National Seal Products and Seafood Day in Canada

Support Bill S-224, says Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette, who wants a National Seal and Seafood Products Day in Canada. (HANDOUT IMAGE)

A National Seal Products and Seafood Day — that’s what Sen. Celine Hervieux-Payette wants to see in Canada.

To create this national day, Hervieux-Payette introduced a bill, S-224: An Act respecting National Seal and Seafood Products Day, Oct. 30 in the Senate.

“If this bill passes, on May 20 of each year Canadians will be encouraged to celebrate our coastal communities, pay tribute to their hard work and partake in high-quality ‘made in Canada’ products,” Hervieux-Payette said.

National Seal and Seafood Products Day would be “evidence of the Parliament of Canada’s unwavering support for this activity and for people who make their living harvesting marine resources,” she said on her website.

The seal hunt takes places generally from late March to mid-May, so May 20 would mark the conclusion of the hunting season — and an ideal time to celebrate products from the fishery, she said.

This day would also serve as an opportunity to honour the work of seal hunters, fishers, processors, craftspeople, chefs and Inuit, she said.

May 20 is also the day when EU citizens celebrate Maritime Day, she said,

“At a difficult time for our coastal communities, with the European Union calling into question the legitimacy of our seal hunt and its humane, cruelty-free practices, I feel it is important to celebrate, at the same time they do, our shared maritime way of life and these fragile natural resources that sustain so many communities on both continents,” Hervieux-Payette said.

The first seal products and seafood day could be celebrated on May 20, 2015.