Fisheries committee  We often try to export our products outside Canada, to develop markets at the international level. In our country, however, consumers would be prepared to buy seal meat. If we make the necessary efforts to develop seal products and markets inside Canada itself, we are going to be able to sell our products here, domestically, without being afraid of borders closing later on.

Fisheries committee  We work on reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, but also between hunters and non-hunters, while taking public opinion into account. We work with people who may not know how the hunt works, how seal is consumed, or how this resource is used. Working together is an opportunity to change and improve that image and show that it is possible to reconcile on every level.

Fisheries committee  I call him Kiniqtuks. It means when you stir something and it becomes muddy or cloudy. That's him.

Fisheries committee  I can give you another reason. In the Magdalen Islands, grey seals are very abundant. There are 44,000 seals that stay around the islands year-round and a population of 430,000 seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where there were only 5,000 in the 1960s. That is a huge increase and it puts immense pressure on the fish populations.

Fisheries committee  For the moment, we are focusing on food insecurity among Inuit and their need for access to seals. There is food insecurity everywhere in Canada and the world. There are people everywhere who need food. For the moment, however, we are trying first to respond to the needs of Inuit.

Fisheries committee  Good afternoon. We are really very happy to have been invited by Ms. Desbiens and to be here today. I am very pleased to be able to speak in French, and I am eager for the day when I or my friend Ruben Komangapik will be able to speak in Inuktitut. My name is Yoanis Menge and I come from the Magdalen Islands.