Straight Through the Heart

Have you taken sides yet? Was she stupid, insensitive, a true leader, a proud Canadian, respectful of an ancient culture? What did you think when you heard she had eaten fresh seal heart? I'm speaking of course, of the Governor-General of course and her recent taste of seal heart.

I have to say that in this story I find both angles distasteful. On the one side there is this bizarre (to use a familiar word) sense of nationalism being fanned by people who would never dream of eating a seal heart, let alone a flipper or rib. All of a sudden, northern First Nations are true Canadians, bearers of the flag . . . just as long as you keep your funny rituals and foods to yourself. Sorry about the whole genocide thing and that residential schools fiasco, but we're going to respect you for a few minutes. So in the end the message becomes:

Canadians (represented by their GG) are tough, we eat the beating heart right out of a bloody seal. Beat that you sissy, cheese eating Europeans; and we beat you at hockey too.

Then you have this other group of people that can't abide killing any animal for food and find the GG a barbarian for her taste of heart. It's especially bad for seals to die who are cuter than chickens and cows and therefore more special. I'm not sure I understand their position. Have they been to the Arctic? Just what would you expect the Inuit to eat if not seal and polar bear and the like? You can't grow genetically modified soy in the Arctic I'm happy to announce. I'm sure they would like to destroy Inuit culture by importing processed food from the civilized world.

The one group, who is pretty silent in the whole debate (as usual), I have some respect for are the Inuit who hunted, butchered and ate the seal in question. At least they know where their food comes from, at least they have a relationship with it. The GG was just a guest and she's unlikely to stock her freezer with seal, nor should she, being nowhere near where seal live. If you live in Ottawa you should eat what's grown or hunted in and around Ottawa. If you live in Saskatchewan you probably shouldn't know what salmon tastes like.

I know a lot of people in Cape Breton are probably enamoured of the GG right now. Supporting their "industry" which is constantly under attack. Though these same people, like the other good nationalists (and to tell the truth, yours truly) would never actually dream of eating seal despite its abundance.

It's time we dropped the "industry" and just lived in our places. That means seal for us and it probably means the GG should get back to her garden.