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Canada's Gov-General Michaëlle Jean Defends Eating Seal Heart

by Jarrett Martineau | May 28, 2009 at 09:52 am

650 views | 28 Recommendations | 3 comments

In direct defiance of her fiercest critics, Canada's Governor-General Michaëlle Jean has defended her participation in a community feast, in which she was invited to share in eating a seal's heart, with indigenous Inuit people of Canada's north.

In an interview with the Canadian Press, Jean described her experience as "an important gesture that is part of the [Inuit people's] tradition".

At the event, Jean stated that she listened to people's "testimony about the way of life in the North" — including traditional methods of hunting, cooking, and eating — that help indigenous peoples to survive in a difficult climate.

She went on to explain that the heart is considered not only a delicacy but "the best thing that you can offer to the person that you are greeting...to your guest...and it is the best that is offered to the elders. Do you say no to that?"

In the Governor General's own words, her "sense of diplomacy at an individual scale" is about receiving and learning "with open arms" and her role, in this case, was simply "to receive...and give back".

For her part, Jean stated that what she was able to give back was "respect and recognition".

But, for those with little understanding of the traditional cultural practices of Canada's indigenous Inuit people, the event became an all-too-easy opportunity to be simply "disgusted" or to judge Jean's participation as being "too bizarre to acknowledge".

It is unfortunate that many have been unable to see the event for what it was — the gracious inclusion of a representative of Canada's government in a traditional, indigenous ceremony — rather than a collective "gross out" moment for those too unfamiliar with the practice to understand it.

Michaëlle Jean — and the community that hosted her visit — should be celebrated, not condemned.

In fact, the Governor-General's response could hardly be more defiant: Ms. Jean was invited by a group of Inuit to join them on a seal hunt Wednesday evening. And she accepted.

She said in an interview with The Canadian Press that she was aware how her gesture at a community festival Monday in Rankin Inlet would be interpreted.

When she was presented with seal carcasses, Ms. Jean cut through the flesh, swallowed a piece of its heart and wiped her blood-spattered fingers clean with tissue.

“I think a person in my position knows exactly what's in the air, and I'm aware of the context. I'm aware that now if you eat seal or wear something made of seal skin . . . it says that you recognize this activity.

“But this activity is part of the way of life of thousands of people in our country. In the North, in the Arctic, in the East also in coastal regions.

“It is part of their way of life. It is part of their economy. It is well administrated. It is vital for them. It is done in a sustainable way. A very respectful way.”

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albertacowpoke

at 10:27 on May 28th, 2009

Hopefully this convinces the naysayers that she had no political motive behind here actions. This is the inuit way of life. For her biography click here

Roy C

at 11:10 on May 28th, 2009

Yes, I am with your governor here. Refusing the gesture out of poltical correctness would have been "Very White",( incidentally the name of a character on Saturday Night Live when Chevy Chase did Berry White).

She not only had every right to participate, she had an obligation to participate.

albertacowpoke

at 12:19 on May 28th, 2009

According to newsreports and interviews of Inuit, who support her, the size of the piece of heart she ate was no bigger than the tip of a medium little finger.

Yellow Guitar

at 12:07 on May 28th, 2009

Good article and a welcome perspective on this tempest in a teacup - thanks for posting.

I once ate goat-brains in Qatar; it was salty and had a disgusting texture to my taste, but I ate it anyway. Lucky for me, I did not accompany a friend to Jordan, where he was introduced to pickled goat penises, of which he manfully dispatched several, which he threw up later. He was violently ill for several days from food poisoning. Apparently the lot had gone bad. When in Rome .... but be careful. :~)