Thank you.
We appreciate our witnesses appearing. We realize you came a long way. We very much appreciate and understand your message.
I expect some of the students may find it a bit warm in some of those fur coats as well.
Speaking as chair of the committee, I find it reassuring—and I'm sure our questioners will bring a number of these points up—that you understand the “divide and conquer” plan of the Europeans, of the non-governmental officials and the humane groups around the world, who very much would like to separate all seal hunters into separate components and, once they're divided, conquer them all. There's no such thing as an exemption for aboriginal peoples or Inuit peoples. That's not the intent. The intent is to stop sealing.
It's unfortunate that some of these individuals have no understanding of living off the land. They've never hunted, they've never fished, and they have no understanding.
I've been in the high north, in the eastern Arctic, many times. It's a beautiful area, and I would be more than pleased to come again. I would expect to have some ringed seal when I get there. The grey seals that we eat off southwestern Nova Scotia are okay, but they're not nearly as tasty as the ringed seal; it's much better.
We'll go to our first questioner, Mr. Simms.