Letter to GovT: Please uphold the ban on Seal-Hunt products!

{i'm on a ROLL}  YOU oughta write one too -
Use this link:  HSI Letter  


                                                                (from Humane Society website)

This is what i added (inside HSI's intro & ending in blue):

SUBJECT:  Please withdraw Canada's WTO challenge

Dear Decision Maker,
I am writing to express my strong opposition to Canada's request for a dispute panel to be established at the World Trade Organization in response to the European Union ban on seal product trade.

After a decade of increasingly active campaigning opposing Canada's Commercial Seal Hunt, i have come close to despair at Government's strange refusal to even acknowledge its rising swell of opposition - despite record-breaking numbers joining in the rally to 'Stop the Seal Hunt!', via numerous petitions boasting 100's of 1,000's of signatures, global high-profile celebrity appeals & involvement by virtually all large animal-welfare non-profits besides HSI:  PETA, IFAW, WSPA & many others.  I've watched wistfully as other, smaller, campaigns achieve results... cheered when the EU seal-products ban was announced... & cried tears of joy when Putin banned all seal-hunt trade in Russia.  Yet --still-- we Canadians are forced to suffer the shame of seeing our public servants (INEXPLICABLY) dig in their heels, refuse to compromise & stubbornly support the Seal 'Hunt' using lies, misinformation & misnomers via mainstream media.

On video-streaming websites like YouTube, the general public can see exactly what this appalling event is about.  If you have never seen it (& it seems that is the case), i recommend you view for yourself exactly WHO & WHAT you are supporting using OUR tax dollars, against most Canadians' wishes.  You will see why much of this footage comes with warnings of its graphic nature 'not suitable for children'.  You will see that, contrary to what you may be told, there's NOTHING noble, 'traditional' --or even HONEST-- about this supposed 'way of life' (which First Nations don't even support).
Full info @ this link:  The Cdn. Seal Hunt

NOBODY I know (including me) WANTS to watch filmed footage of the Seal 'Hunt':  the most disturbing, sadistic display of cowardly violence i have ever had the misfortune to witness.  Even if the Seal 'Hunt' WERE economically sound, sustainable & humane (which it's clearly NOT), the extreme distress inflicted so brutally would, for most Canadians, cancel out any benefits.  As with other questionable stances taken by Govt. recently, it appears we're being led away from future self-sufficiency/ sustainability, against the wishes of 86% of citizens & against our constitution (which asks us to be 'wildlife stewards') while condoning abuse of young wild seals in their own native habitat (which our constitution says must be protected) in a remote community that becomes more of a burden/drain each year...
[WE MUST DEFEND OUR WILDLIFE, NOT KILL THEM!]

PM Harper's reckless WTO challenge to the EU ban would cost Canadian taxpayers an estimated $10 million --yet another subsidy to the sealing industry stolen from the overwhelming majority of Canadians who want it to end-- just as Canada attempts to negotiate a trade deal with the European Union reportedly worth $12 billion annually to our economy.   It seems incomprehensible to risk beneficial relations with our second largest trading partner (leaders in sustainable technologies as well as our key source of ecotourism) while rushing to push through a dodgy deal (FIPPA) with an undemocratic republic (China) whose environmental record is already the world's WORST! These are not the sound moves of a well-informed government.

I implore you to consider the many benefits of upholding/ respecting EU's ban - aside from purely economic ones, which are no-brainers. We must see this ban as a blessing, an opportunity to free Canada from unnecessary dependencies & thus pave the way for modern, streamlined, sustainable technologies that don't involve destroying crucial wildlife ecosystems, disrespecting other life forms or polluting our environment.

I am asking that you immediately withdraw the WTO challenge against the EU & do everything in your power to put a final end to 'Canada's Shame', the Commercial Seal Hunt.

Sincerely,
Sarah Chesterman
Vancouver, BC

Saving LiVES, 1 PETiTiON @ a Time...

Petitions are a viable way of influencing decision-making powers through 'strength in numbers', as popular sites like CARE2 prove.  Here are a couple of my latest projects - with links for you to access - on CARE2.com:


STOP THE ENBRIDGE TAR SANDS PIPELINE IN CANADA 
(http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/787/589/822/)

# 31,414    Nov 11, Ms. Sarah Chesterman, BC
Today @ Broadway & Cambie a sweet young guy with pen & clipboard was approaching people, offering a petition to sign - & mostly being ignored. Hearing him say "pipeline" stopped me, & i didn't have to wait for the expected "Enbridge" to impatiently sign my name - with a pang of shame @ being 1st on the page... PEOPLE: WAKE UP - & APPRECIATE EACH CHANCE YOU GET TO VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION! (Doesn't our PM's approval of this pipeline PROVE this protest's worth?) How about proving YOUR worth as a citizen of BC - i.e. the province that's counting on YOU to protect its precious coast... [PLEASE: don't let BC down, as the old-school FOOLs reporting our supposed "News" have clearly done -- blaming them for your own ignorance won't reverse the oil spills which WILL --NOT "COULD" or "MIGHT"-- result from its approval…]  ENBRIDGE PIPELINE = DEATH OF BC'S COAST.

DECADE TO SAVE TREES & SAVE THE WORLD(http://www.thepetitionsite.com/24/decade-to-save-trees-save-the-world/)

# 174   May 25, Sarah Chesterman, Canada
The bottom line is, do we want to change our ways to be Earth-aware/ Nature-friendly... OR do we want to continue with same-old (i.e. feeding corporate profits while destroying what makes Earth liveable/ sustainable)??  If you aren't being responsible and/or vigilant RE. environmental quality & our state of health on Earth, then you're part of the problem:  i.e. you're assisting - by your actions/inaction, purchases etc. - the continued rape of Mother Nature.  Which is UNACCEPTABLE - as well as stupid, since nature iS THE provider/supplier/sustainer of life on Earth...
Instead of killing animals, we could learn from them:  NOT as experimental lab subjects (from which we learn nothing but our willingness to be duped by rapacious pharmaceutical co's) but as sustainable users of Earth's resources & integral elements of their wild ecosystems - habitats which humans have gradually but persistently diminished by deforestation, development etc.  Our natural tendency toward improvement would have led to global sustainability in action, not just in theory, if it weren't for humans' less admirable tendencies (selfishness, short-sightedness & greed) perpetuated by over-emphasis on material realities.  When we open our hearts & minds to our spiritual link with the universe, a world of possibilities is freed up - along with practical solutions.  With such freedom, fortified by success, comes the desire to reach out to others - as you were reached, to help become the enlightened vegan you are today?   
[For me,  being vegetarian came naturally.  After high school graduation, i took the opportunity to go abroad to be an 'au pair' (nanny).  Close to my departure date, i was told my 'family' was strictly vegetarian and 'Would i be OK with that?'   I was in fact super OK with it, since i'd always loved animals and hated the thought of eating 'my friends'.  That was before i knew anything about the cruelty of dairy production, or what happens on fur farms, or the harm to Earth's environment caused by the beef industry... Like most people, my knowledge of the world - & our part in it - has expanded gradually over time and is an ongoing process, rather than some 'all-or-nothing' miracle of osmosis.  Each new piece added to the puzzle has led to the unflinching finding-out of many more, along with the resolve to share with others what i've learned...]


UPDATE CANADA'S ANIMAL CRUELTY LAWS (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/next_action.html?pId=965702026)

Sarah Chesterman, Canada
Legislation simply sets in writing our society's rules of personal conduct & expectations of others', based on our values... And Canada's laws do not accurately or adequately reflect Canadians' conduct, expectations or values vis-a-vis non-human species - having changed dramatically due to gains in knowledge/ understanding thereof.  Thus our government's failure to incorporate these changes into new, updated laws is glaringly remiss, if not tantamount to criminal negligence in allowing undesirable conduct & disrespect for our fundamental values to go unnoticed/unpunished.  Most Canadians care deeply about this issue, and would be shocked at the amount of animal cruelty that goes on unchecked behind closed doors in their own country.  Canada's lack of transparency & its outdated animal-welfare laws/ practices are shameful, and hold us back from necessary progress toward sustainability & an improved harm-free (i.e. stress-free) outlook...
Amending laws to properly align with expectations & future aspirations, updated with modern scientific knowledge/research, MUST include respectful treatment of Earth's environment, nature and all living beings if we are to continue thriving...


CDN. PEOPLE ASKING U.S. TO BOYCOTT OUR FISH (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/canadian-people-asking-us-to-boycott-our-fish/)
 
# 6   13:38, Apr 03, Sarah Chesterman, Canada
To be clear: i don't WANT to support cutting off Canadians' livelihoods. But i CAN'T stand by & do nothing as long as this disgrace to the human race keeps taking place in my country - against Canadian, European & global demands to STOP this sickening slaughter of thousands of baby seals each year. WHY, when such sadistic cruelty against animals is no longer necessary for survival, let alone acceptable by any standards of conduct, is MY government not taking a leadership role as a 'developed' nation & SHUTTING DOWN "Canada's shame"? Its failure to do so forces me to ask that you boycott the sealers' main income source: Canadian.seafood. Thank you very much.


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