Le Gouvernement voulait des uniformes olympiques en phoque!!

[Cath10 0]

Heureusement, leur demande a été rejetée!


Canadian athletes won't be told to wear sealskin at 2010 Games: minister

The Canadian government won't tell Canadian athletes they should wear sealskin products at the 2010 Winter Games, the minister responsible for sport said Wednesday.

But don't be surprised if the sealing industry shows up in Vancouver promoting its products just as the wine industry will promote Canadian ice wines, said Gary Lunn, the minister for the Olympics.

"If the Canadian sealing industry wished to take some of their unique products around Games-time to the Vancouver area and make them available, why not? We expect that from a lot of other Canadian products," Lunn said.

But he said the government would never ask the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Vancouver Organizing Committee, the International Olympic Committees or even Canadian athletes to get involved in the political issue of promoting the country's seal industry.

"No, no, no, no, it would be absolutely the wrong thing to do," he said. "The athletes shouldn't be getting involved in this. They should be focussed on winning medals for us."

Lunn said he thinks the unanimous parliamentary vote Tuesday of a Bloq Quebecois motion calling on support for sealing products at the Olympics wasn't meant to politicize the Games but rather lend moral support to a legitimate industry.

"The Canadian government's position is that we support the sealing industry and their rights to a livelihood. Having said that, by no stretch is there any suggestion at all that this has the COC, the Vancouver Organizing Committee or IOC involved in any way. Or the athletes. Nor should they. I appreciate it that this is getting torqued out of control, but this is absolutely wrong."

Lunn said he spoke to COC president Chris Rudge and Vanoc president John Furlong and assured them the government had no intention of using the Games to promote the sealing industry.

Rudge has already said the COC won't include seal skin in its uniforms, which are already in production.

Dick Pound, Canada's permanent IOC member, called the parliamentary motion "foolish" and said it should not embroil the Olympics in its political or commercial problems.

"This has nothing to do with the Olympic Games and it would be inappropriate to try and turn this into a political issue," he said.

"I think Canadians should say that Parliament has better things to do than something goofy like this."

Pound said also doesn't believe any provincial partner would try and use the Games to promote sealing.

"I don't see the premier of Quebec arriving (in Vancouver) wrapped in seal skins."

His comments were echoed by Premier Gordon Campbell.

"I would think at a time like this that our Parliamentarians were focused far more on what they can do to help the economy and what they can do to get workers through these challenging times," said Campbell on an election campaign stop in Quesnel.

"This is a time to support our athletes and actually everyone get together, and let's go for gold in 2010."

Regardless, Canada's support for the sealing industry has drawn a target on the Olympics by some protest groups.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, has said it will directly target the 2010 torch relay as a means of pressuring for eradication of the hunt. It also uses an image of the 2010 Inukshuk logo clubbing a seal.

Rudge called PETA's threats "self-serving and self-centred."

"I think that would be tragic. I think that the torch is a very important symbol of what the Olympic ideal can mean and what a better world can be and I think to desecrate that image in the interest of any one special interest group is very wrong."

Lunn said he can't stop PETA but he doesn't believe Canadians will buy into the campaign.

"Sometimes this is more about a group trying to raise funds," he said. "We're not trying to make this an issue at Games-time and if other groups like that attempt (to protest) we would discourage that. We want this to be about Canada bringing home the gold."

Vanoc has signed "contributing territory/provincial partnerships" with several governments involved in sealing, notably Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut.

Vanoc spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade said in an email that the organizing committee has not been asked by its government partners to use seal products in its souvenirs, and Vanoc is also not doing anyway.

She pointed out the IOC's Olympic Charter rules ban the use of propaganda and demonstrations, and place limits on advertising.
Vanoc doesn't like the idea of PETA protesting the torch relay but respect's "the right to peaceful freedom of expression," she said.

"While some organizations such as PETA may use Vancouver 2010 and the Olympic spotlight as a vehicle to make themselves heard on issues unrelated to the Games we simply have no jurisdiction in this area," she said.

(ils sont rendus à parler de PETA finalement, au lieu des uniformes en peaux de phoques)


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/
Canadian+athletes+told+wear+sealskin+2010+Games+minister/1573947/story.html



The seal showdown begins as MPs vote to promote hunt's spoil

VANCOUVER — Clubbing seals on ice floes is not a Winter Olympics sport, but Canadian parliamentarians have nonetheless voted to spit in the eye of their European counterparts by asking for seal products from the controversial annual hunt to be included on the uniforms of this country's athletes at the 2010 Games here.

A motion to use the Games to promote seal products passed unanimously in the House of Commons yesterday, as MPs responded to this week's lopsided vote by the European Parliament to ban the import of seal products.

In particular, the motion put forward by Bloc Québécois member Raynald Blais, who represents the Magdalen Islands where many residents participate in the hunt, calls for seal skin to be part of the official uniforms worn by Canada's Olympians.

The proposal was quickly shot down by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), which reminded MPs that the Olympics are not to be used as a platform for special causes. Besides, Canada's official uniforms for the Olympics have already been designed, approved by the International Olympic Committee and are currently in production, their look and style a closely guarded secret.


But one of the hunt's most implacable foes, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), welcomed the MPs' motion with open arms.

“We feel it's perfect because it shows how completely out of touch the Canadian government is with the rest of the world,” said PETA spokeswoman Kristie Phelps. “It would be extremely appropriate for Canada's Olympic uniform to wear the country's heartlessness right on its sleeve.”

PETA, meanwhile, is planning its own use of the Winter Games as a staging ground, vowing to protest the bloody harvest of seals at every stop along the cross-country Olympic torch relay.

“All eyes are on Canada as they prepare to host the Olympics, and we hope to use this extra attention to put an end to the slaughter,” Ms. Phelps said.

“Canada is not popular around the world because of it, and we are going to make the country and the Olympics a target.”

COC boss Chris Rudge said he wasn't surprised by the House of Commons motion to promote seal products at the 2010 Olympics.

Trying to co-opt the Games for social and political purposes has a long history, he said, but the Olympic Charter prohibits national committees from speaking out on such issues during the Olympics.

“If we agreed [to the motion], we would be in violation of that rule, and we won't be doing that,” he said. “We will not be putting skin or other seal products on our uniforms.”

Canada's seal hunt has long been unpopular in Europe. Photos and videos of young seals being clubbed and skinned on the blood-spattered ice are a staple of the ongoing campaign there to end the annual harvest, the largest of its kind in the world. Russia recently halted its killing of harp seals, after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the hunt a “bloody industry.”

The EU ban, if approved as expected by member countries, would apply to all seal products and processed goods, including skins for fur coats, meat, oil blubber, organs and Omega 3 pills.

Canada has strongly condemned the move, arguing that the seal hunt is humane and poses no danger to the seal population. The federal government says it intends to challenge the restriction at the World Trade Organization.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said she liked the idea of adding seal to Canada's Olympic outfits. “I think it would be a good statement for the Canadian sealing industry, and Canada's support of it.”

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said Canada has not been aggressive enough in fighting the public-relations war in Europe, and using the Olympics might help.

When a reporter suggested athletes might not like being forced to wear animal pelts to make a political statement, Mr. Duceppe pointed to his shoes.

“They're not made out of plastic,” he said. “They're not made out of straw. They come from an animal.”

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[Cath10 0]

Olympics say no to seal skin uniforms

UPSET by the EU's decision to ban seal products, Canadian parliamentarians have proposed seal pelt uniforms for Canada's athletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics, but Games organisers have quickly rejected the idea.

The European Parliament voted on Wednesday to endorse a European Union ban on seal products in protest against commercial hunting methods, provoking anger in Canada and a possible pursuit of redress at the World Trade Organisation.

Canadian lawmakers unanimously supported a motion yesterday in the House of Commons urging the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) to make athletes' uniforms out of seal pelts and for the government to promote sealing at the Games in Vancouver.

Chris Rudge, head of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), however, immediately dismissed the idea, saying there would be no seal skins used to make the uniforms.

"We respect the right of Canadians and its politicians to engage in such discussions, but it's not the role of the Olympic movement or of our Olympic team to take a position on social or political issues," he said today.

[animo-aequoanimo 0]

Je crois que ce soir, il y a Jean Lapointe qui va parler de son CD à la télé et des phoques. J'ai oublié le nom et l'heure de l'émission. C'est avec un animateur qui fait des entrevues. Je crois que c'est Denis Lévesque.