By Matteo Cimellaro Local Journalism Initiative When Paul McCartney campaigned against the seal hunt in 2006, it was unclear how reliant the Inuit and some coastal community economies were on the trade. “We are concerned about the economics for the people, but we think there are other ways to do it,” McCartney said at the time. Three years later, the European Union banned all seal products. The market for seal products was decimated, and with it came the rise of poverty and suicide within Inuit communities despite exemptions for their products, Steven Lonsdale of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association told the Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans late last year. Now, a new report from that committee acknowledges the harm done by the ban and recommends Ottawa must do more to…
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