Senator fires back at U.S. family upset with seal hunt

Senator fires back at U.S. family upset with seal hunt

Last Updated Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:16:34 EST

CBC News

A Liberal senator has replied to a family in Minnesota upset about Canada's seal hunt with a letter denouncing the United States for executing prisoners at home and killing people in Iraq

The McLellan family had written to Canadian senators to say they cancelled a vacation in Canada because of the hunt, which they called "horrible" and "inhumane," Montreal's La Presse reports.

In her response, Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette said that what she finds horrible is "the daily massacre of innocent people in Iraq, the execution of prisoners – mainly blacks – in American prisons, the massive sale of handguns to Americans, the destabilization of the entire world by the American government's aggressive foreign policy, etc."

She said Americans are not in a position to criticize others. "They must start to look at their own behaviour, the permanent heightening of the planet's insecurity since the election of Bush," she told La Presse.

"All senators received the letter from the McLellans and I was the only one to respond," she said.

The family "did not choose a good cause," she added.

In their letter, the McLellans said they love Canada and have Canadian ancestors but cancelled a trip to Canada last year because of the seal hunt and will scrap plans for one this year if the spring hunt goes ahead, La Presse said.

Hervieux-Payette, a lawyer and former Liberal MP, was appointed to the Senate in 1995 by then prime minister Jean Chrétien. She last drew public attention with a private member's bill in 2004 to outlaw spanking of children.

In defending the seal hunt, she called it a centuries-old practice and part of the livelihood of coastal residents both native and white.

She invited the McLellans to come to Canada to see a humane society that lives in safety and respects the traditions of its native people.

It is not clear whether she might pay a penalty for remarks that could be seen as anti-American. Once appointed, senators have a job until retirement at 75.

A Toronto-area MP, Carolyn Parrish, was thrown out of the Liberal caucus in 2004 after she stomped on a George Bush doll and renounced her loyalty to the party. She stayed in Parliament as an Independent but did not seek re-election this past winter.