The View from the West

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Other Opinion

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 05/30/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

The Hamilton Spectator

11Concerned Canadians on both sides of the seal hunt question are engaged in emotional debate over the act itself. Jean's supporters say she was doing her job, and very well, too, by indulging in the seal snack, thus showing her unflinching support for the rights of Canadian Inuit to harvest and consume seal in the manner of their ancestors. Critics say she made an overt or at least implied gesture of support for the seal hunt in general, including the part not carried out by native Canadians, in which non-native sealers harvest seal, in large part for their pelts.

And Jean's not helping. Asked if she was sending a message to the European Union, which recently banned seal imports, the Governor General said: "Take from that what you will."

The problem with making a political statement that's open to interpretation is that it's also open to misinterpretation. Was Jean simply affirming her office's support for the Inuit right to harvest seals? Maybe, but that's not much of a statement given that even militant European Union activists agree aboriginal people should be exempt from any anti-seal hunt regulations.

Or was she making a much broader statement about the right of all sealers to make a living from harvesting seals, for food or fur? If so, that position would obviously be much more controversial.

Maybe people on both sides of the question are missing the bigger issue. Do we want the Governor General involved in politics, activism and advocacy, beyond the broad strokes? Few complained when Jean raised Haiti's plight in conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama. But when activism and advocacy stray from humanitarian causes to the political arena, there is cause for legitimate concern. And when that sort of evolution takes place in the absence of public discourse, it's not surprising many are arguing Jean overstepped her bounds.

You don't have to look far to find someone who'd like to see the office of Governor General, a final vestige of our colonial roots and link to the British monarchy, abolished.

According to opinion polls by Angus Reid Strategies, in February 2008 some 55 per cent of supported Canada's ending its formal ties to the British monarchy, up from 53 per cent in September 2007, while only 34 per cent opposed this option outright, down from 35 per cent in 2007.

That suggests that sooner or later, Canada may need an elected head of state, who could then legitimately say he or she speaks on behalf of Canadians. But it's not clear that an appointed Governor General, without a mandate, is wise to weigh in on sensitive political matters such as this one.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 30, 2009 A17

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