As a professional photographer, seal hunting is certainly the subject on which I have invested the most.
As seal hunters are wary, probably rightly, of media of any kind wanting to exploit the sensationalist aspect of the subject, in order to fully understand my subject, I became a seal hunter myself.
I was thus able to participate actively in hunts in the Magdalen Islands, in Newfoundland as well as in Nunavut and Nunavik.
From the links woven during these exchanges, the Reconseal Inuksiuti project was born, which presents a golden opportunity to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous through our relationship with this majestic animal that is the seal. At the same time, the project will help provide country food to some urban Inuit in Canada as well as creating opportunities for them to reconnect with the traditions surrounding the full use of this wild and abundant resource.
The methods of hunting and using the seal may vary a little depending on whether you are Madelinot, Newfoundlander or Inuk, but there is much more that unites us than separates us. It is on these similarities that we must build the unity that will allow us to show the uninitiated all the relevance, the usefulness and even the necessity of this ancestral activity in our modern world.
Yoanis Menge
President
