Seal hunting is an ancestral skill and remains a vital activity for certain Indigenous Peoples living in Northern Canada.
What are the reasons behind the controversy surrounding seal hunting?
Who are the people fighting to keep this know-how alive?
Let’s start with an introduction.
Video length: 10 minutes et 14 secondes
Location and shooting date: Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands, 2023
Excerpts from interviews conducted by: Maylis Persoons, Exploramer museologist
Videographer and editor: Guillaume Lévesque, Les productions de la Morue Salée
Animal videos: Jean-Christophe Lemay, Mario Longpré, Yves Persoons et Guillaume Lévesque
Interviewees:
Credit: Exploramer, 2024
[Background music.]
[View of a seashore, then of a seal on a rock, of a building with a flag in the wind in the foreground, of a man sitting in a crowded room and finally of Réjean Vigneau talking.]
Réjean Vigneau: Its leather is one of the best in the world, because it’s waterproof…
Réjean Vigneau, I’m a Magdalen Islander, not by adoption, born here. I’ve been hunting seals since I was 16.
[Shot of Réjean speaking to an assembly, then of a man taking a photo of a hakapik.]
Where I come from, we’ve been hunting from one generation to the next, and that’s the way it’s always been. We’ve got to admit that the more hunters there are, the more it will be recognized, and also… each hunter will become an ambassador. Because it’s not an issue that’s hard to defend, as crazy as it may seem, the seal hunt.
[Background music stops, back to Réjean talking to the camera.]
It’s so easy to talk about. We have nothing to hide. We just have to explain. Then it flows like butter in the pan. And people often tell us the same thing: “Is it that simple?” I say yes. It just takes political courage to sort it all out. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been popular… for the past 40 years.
[Background music picks up, successive shots of old photographs: a person taking a photo of a seal, a seal with its head above water, a snowmobile towing a rowboat on the ice, a seal on the ice.]
Gil Thériault: Did I see any improvement? To be honest, not much.
[Shot of Gil Thériault, seated outdoors, background music stops.]
Because it’s an issue that’s been highly politicized since the 60s or so. And then… That aspect hasn’t changed much, unfortunately.
[Shot of Réjean showing how to cut meat and then how to tan a pelt to an assembly.]
We’ve made small steps. Not giant steps, really. But thanks to the work Réjean Vigneau has done with the meat, among other things, there still has been a significant progress. But unfortunately, meat is only one aspect of the seal hunt.
[Back to Gil.]
It’s just one of the seal products. And if you isolate that product, it actually becomes very difficult to economically justify hunting outings, which are really quite costly.
[Shot of seals, resting on rocks.]
So, yes, we’ve made progress. But unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of obstacles put in our way on this issue, and it’s still happening on a daily basis.
[Background music resumes, shot of meat being cut up.]
Sandra Gauthier: The problem is the legislation surrounding hunting, processing and marketing.
[Shot of Sandra Gauthier in a crowded room, background music stops, shot of Sandra speaking.]
You know, our seal, when it’s in the water, it’s Canadian. It’s governed by Canadian laws. As soon as it’s out of the water, it becomes a Quebec seal. It’s governed by Quebec laws. So, in the water it’s a fish, on land it’s a meat.
[Underwater view of a seal swimming among seaweed and rocks.]
So, we’re making things even more complex. And it’s not the only product like that, for algae it’s the same thing. Seaweed in water is fish, and on land it’s a vegetable. So, we’re increasing the number of rules and laws.
[Back to Sandra.]
For me, these obstacles are what limit us in the expansion of this great activity.
[Shot of people tasting meat, then of a chef’s hands demonstrating how to put meat on a skewer to an audience.]
Yannick Ouellet: The topic of sealing, I think, is the champion of false beliefs, where there can be all sorts of things said about it. My pleasure, too, is to demystify all that.
[Shot of Yannick Ouellet skewering meat in front of an audience.]
I insert my pieces here… So, when I push it down…
Well, this meat here, we really deserve it.
[Shot of Yannick Ouellet talking.]
Because when you killed it, and then you have it on your plate, it’s because you’ve worked hard. You followed the rules. Much more than the average hunter. So, you have to respect it. The product is there.
[Background music resumes.]
[Close-up on of cooked meat being sliced, then on three seals on an ice floe, seen from above.]
Réjean: The beauty with this meat is that we’re developing a market, it’s “a bit crazy” what I’m telling you here, with my feet on the brakes. Because it’s all so hard to come by.
[Back to Réjean speaking, background music stops.]
It’s not a chicken, it’s not a calf. It’s not a hen that you say “Perfect, I’ve got 3 phone calls to make. One is going to start with a 5000-hen coop, then another is going to start with a 4000 hen coop”. We’re not there. We’re in the wild, where you have to go and get the animal from a wild environment. It’s complicated. It’s really up to us to pull out all the stops, intelligently, because it’s not by opening up “at large”. Because we know that human beings are capable of doing so much stupid stuff in the first morning that we can’t allow them to. They need supervision. Even if we don’t like it, we have to have it.
[Background music resumes, shot of a seal on a rock in the middle of the water, a beach in the background.]
Gil: These are the people who again make up the fabric of society.
[Back to Gil.]
I mean, food is the basics. You can’t get more… A more basic trade than that. I’ve been looking at this, studying this issue for, that’s right, over fifteen years.
[Background music stops.]
And I think these people do very fine work. They’re conscientious people. People who… I’ve gone hunting with, I’ve seen them hunt. And who took pleasure in killing? There isn’t 1% of the hunters I met who took pleasure in hunting. On the other hand, the bond it creates with nature… the prey-predator bond, assumed by Man, because that’s what we are, we’re this supreme predator. And the whole bond, the communion with nature, that’s what fascinates me. And I think it commands respect.
[Background music resumes briefly, shot of seals on rocks in the middle of the water, then of people talking to each other in a room, and of Réjean explaining something to one of the people.]
When I think of it, the new permit holders, it’s a whole generation that, I’d say, the main reason they want to learn to hunt and go hunting is because, for one thing, they don’t want to consume animals that have been mistreated, you know, in the high-volume industry.
[Shot of seals swimming on the surface of the water.]
So, a seal, they know that they go on the ice floe. It’s instant death. It hasn’t been locked up. It hasn’t suffered. It’s hormone-free, antibiotic-free meat. So, they know what they’re eating.
[Background music resumes, shot of meat skewers cooking in a pan, then of Eric Archambault in an apron, moving between seated people.]
Éric Archambault: I can’t wait to see in a few years where we’ll be with this. But I kind of want to be part of the movement behind it.
[Shot of Eric speaking.]
I know some have been fighting for years. Monsieur Réjean, he’s… The cause, it’s noble. We all know. The character is exceptional, but the cause, can we say … he’s fighting for? It’s really noble.
[Plan on Eric cooking, then on Enoch Sbrega, seated at a table.]
Enoch Sbrega: Me,I’m a meat eater.
[Shot of Enoch speaking.]
And the seal, if I’m able to go out and get it, skin it, butcher it and bring it to my plate, I think that completes the circle of life, when it comes down to it.
[Shot of Enoch and Réjean tasting meat.]
But I think that a human being must, at some point, know where his food comes from.
[Shot of meat cooked in a frying pan.]
Yannick: The consumer, his most important role, first and foremost, is to be informed.
[Shot of Yannick cooking in front of an audience.]
Then, secondly, it’s to ask.
[Back to Yannick speaking to the camera.]
It’s supply or demand. It’s always been the same way. That’s how it is in politics. It’s like that in every development, no matter what the resource, it’s always the same thing.
[Shot of Yannick, speaking to an audience.]
It’s the consumer who has the last word. But only if we make it available, accessible, and then that we democratize it.
[Background music resumes, view of a multitude of seals on the ice floe, seen from above, moving forward.]
Gil: Inform yourself, inform yourself about this issue. It’s an issue where there’s been a lot, a lot of misinformation. And to not be maniacs, to kill animals, believe me, I can understand that. I’m totally with this… I love animals. I’ve always had pets. I’m a very much connected to nature. But there’s still a lot of soul-searching to be done. To know… What are the best ways to feed humanity? And about all of these … get informed.
[Back to Gil speaking.]
Then you’ll see that seal hunting is part of it. Because if we want to do good for the planet, ultimately, in my opinion, with the research I’ve done, it always comes back to the same things. We need to consume less, consume better and consume locally. If anyone can convince me that I’m off the mark on this, please do, because I’ve really built up my case. And that’s what seal hunting is.
[Shot of Martin Mallet sitting with people around him, then of Martin speaking.]
Martin Mallet: I think it’s sad that, with the quality we have here, for decades, we haven’t been offering this on our plates across Quebec, but also across the rest of the Maritime provinces.
[Shot of a seal on a rock in the middle of the water.]
It’s time for a change.
[Laughing.]
[Exploramer logo.]
[Background music stops.]
In Quebec, two species are hunted: the grey seal and the harp seal.
Only Indigenous communities have the right to hunt other seal species, as long as this does not harm the conservation of the species. These marine mammals provide them with food security, as well as fur and oil, but seals also generate income, notably through the resale of their pelts. Seals are at the heart of the traditions and knowledge passed down from generation to generation.
In Quebec’s coastal regions, it is in the Magdalen Islands that this trade is most widespread and practised. Elsewhere, it remains marginal, although a desire to reappropriate this hunt is slowly taking hold.
The cry of the wolves
“Loup marin” (sea wolf) is an old Quebec name for seal, still widely used in the Magdalen Islands. Its origin lies in the resemblance between the cry of the wolf and that of the seal. Passing close to a gathering of grey seals, for example, you might hear the powerful howls of these sea wolves.
The 1970s represent a turning point in the history of seal hunting.
At the beginning of the decade, some seal populations were in serious decline because of intensive hunting. In 1977, French actress Brigitte Bardot campaigned against seal pup hunting and the “barbaric” hunting techniques in Canada.
These events led the United States and Europe to close their borders to seal products. This was a major blow for the industry, which lost its main export markets.
The federal government is now reviewing its practices and strengthening regulations to make this hunt one of the most regulated and ethical in the world.
Since 1987, the killing of seal pups has been prohibited. In fact, hunting is closed during the birthing and weaning periods.
With the help of scientists and veterinarians, a slaughtering technique has been implemented to reduce animal suffering.
The weapons used have been revised to increase efficacy. High-calibre rifles, hunting guns with rifled slugs, hakapik and clubs are now the only authorized weapons.
Training is mandatory to obtain a seal hunting licence.
The “Brigitte Bardot” effect
By complaining to the Canadian Government about the “barbaric” use of the hakapik, Brigitte Bardot helped make it official. The government commissioned a group of veterinarians to find the most humane method and tool for hunting seals, and the result was the hakapik. Thus, the hakapik is now part of Canada’s official hunting regulations.
The St. Lawrence is constantly changing.
The diminishing presence of ice is likely to affect the presence of harp seals in Quebec waters. This species migrates between the Arctic and the Gulf of St. Lawrence depending on the state of the ice floes.
However, several species of seal are currently overpopulated.
Grey seals population trends
This situation puts pressure on certain fish species, such as cod, winter flounder and mackerel; all three species are eaten in large quantities by these predators.
Although quotas were established in 1971, actual seal catches were a fraction of the allowed number. Between 2011 and 2019, an average of 63,000 harp seals were caught out of the 400,000 authorized.
In 2024, despite the surplus of seals and the evolution of techniques, international markets maintain their embargo.
It is therefore essential to develop the domestic market to perpetuate this know-how, help balance the ecosystem and enjoy these still little-known, but nonetheless unique, natural and delicious products.
Seal hunting is part of Quebec’s traditional know-how. The practice has evolved because of what we have learned from the past. It has become sustainable and more humane.
You will find other sustainable practices in the rest of the exhibition. Can you guess which ones?
This project was made possible through funding from Digital Museums Canada and the participation and collaboration of Université Laval.
© 2025 A Wave of Flavours
