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Short Title
National Seal Products Day
First Session, Forty-second Parliament,
64-65-66 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016-2017
STATUTES OF CANADA 2017
CHAPTER 5
An Act respecting National Seal Products Day
ASSENTED TO
May 16, 2017
BILL S-208
SUMMARY
This enactment designates May 20 as “National Seal Products Day”.
Available on the Parliament of Canada Web Site at the following address:
http://www.parl.gc.ca
64-65-66 Elizabeth II
CHAPTER 5
An Act respecting National Seal Products Day
[Assented to 16th May, 2017]
Preamble
Whereas human beings have depended on ocean resources, including seals and other marine animals, for nourishment for thousands of years;
Whereas Canada’s Indigenous peoples and coastal communities have developed traditional knowledge of how to use ocean resources;
Whereas this traditional knowledge and the traditions, culture and heritage of Canada’s Indigenous peoples and coastal communities respecting the use of ocean resources should be preserved and recognized;
Whereas the use of ocean resources plays an important economic role for Canada’s Indigenous peoples and coastal communities;
Whereas the extractors of Canada’s ocean resources play an important role in the sustainable management and preservation of populations of wild species and in the maintenance of ecosystemic balance;
Whereas scientific knowledge of and methods for using ocean resources have evolved rapidly in recent years;
Whereas the extraction and use of Canada’s ocean resources are compatible with the contemporary principles of animal protection, sustainable development, ecosystemic management and preventive regulation;
Whereas the extraction and use of Canada’s ocean resources can be reconciled with a respectful and cruelty-free treatment of sea animals;
Whereas the extraction and use of Canada’s ocean resources are compatible with the Convention on Biological Diversity’s objectives of conservation, sustainable use and a fair and equitable sharing;
Whereas the use of Canada’s ocean resources accords with the principle of rational use advocated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature;
Whereas ecosystemic balance is the fruit of a constant interaction between predator and prey;
Whereas the human species is an integral part of the ecosystem and, as a result, its role as a predator cannot be separated from the rest of nature;
Whereas the European Union has declared May 20 to be European Maritime Day in order to recall “the importance of a healthy marine environment both for the sustainability of economic activities on the seas and for the quality of life in coastal regions”;
And whereas the importance of the seal hunt for Canada’s Indigenous people, coastal communities and entire population should be recognized by designating May 20 as National Seal Products Day;
Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons, enacts as follows:
Short Title
Short title
1 This Act may be cited as the National Seal Products Day Act.
National Seal Products Day
National Seal Products Day
2 Throughout Canada, in each and every year, the 20th day of May is to be known as “National Seal Products Day”.
Not a legal holiday or non-juridical day
3 For greater certainty, National Seal Products Day is not a legal holiday or a non-juridical day.
Published under authority of the Senate of Canada
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