Canada’s Shameless Shame

This vid is of Ginger and I at the Stop the Seal Slaughter demo on Friday, March 27th.

Becci and Hot Ginge

Not sure how I feel about seeing myself on camera, but that’s really not the point, huh. Ginger and I missed the march, (ie. funeral procession complete with stuffed baby seals, Canadian flag stomping, and death her/himself). But it was good that we were there at the booth with our horrific posters to catch the disgusted eyes of passerbys.

Last year at this time, I kept waking up to the thought of my own head being bashed in with a hakapik, and felt so horrible that this was taking place that I went out and protested alone. I collected about 75 signatures and it was like pulling teeth, one woman claiming that she didn’t want to be associated with me. This year, I was really happy to have others to protest with (CATCA, Peta, Lib BC), and although I tried not to tell slaughter supporters: “how would YOU like to have your head humanely bashed in with a hakapik?”, I did end up in one altercation with a passing ignoramus who yelled: “kill the seals, save the cod!”

“It’s Canadians who have overfished the cod!” I yelled back.

“Those pictures are three years old!” he retorted, referring to the picture I was holding of what was left of a baby seal after skinning – eyeballs and a bloody pile of guts.

“It’s happening right now!” I yelled at him.

And it is. Over the next few weeks, hundreds of thousands of baby seals will be killed in front of their mothers. 42% skinned alive. Wtf. How can Canada not have an emotional reaction to this? The largest marine animal slaughter ON EARTH. And yet it’s not talked about. It’s far away on the East Coast, on the down low, off the air.

So. Is there a place for anger in protesting? Yes. Can a peaceful protest be effective? Yes. But there is a time and a place for anger.

Last year, before I started participating in demos, I remember telling my cousin: “I will never be truly happy living on this planet knowing about the atrocities that happen to animals.” (People, too -OF COURSE- but animals do not have a voice of their own. They only know how to be.) I was accepting the current reality of the world as Ultimate Reality. I was agreeing to be a victim.

This year, I feel so different. I’m sharing a small slice of the pain and that makes it so much more tolerable. Being around others who also can’t simply look past this and other animal abuse issues makes me very grateful.

No media? Okay, we'll be our own media.