European fur protests blocked

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A group of Canadian Native leaders called the Indigenous Survival International were able to persuade several European groups to withdraw from the anti-fur lobby recently.

The Native group gave presentations on trapping and it being essential for the economic and cultural survival of some Aboriginal people. Most of the European groups had very little knowledge on the constitutional position of the Aboriginal people, Metis Association of Alberta President Sam Sinclair said on his return from a three-week tour of Europe.

"We received a great response from the public and parliaments of Germany, Belgium and Britain," says George Erasmus, grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Erasmus sees the trip as being very successful, saying they succeeded in swaying the Socialists and Green parties of West Germany not to join the growing anti-fur harvest lobby.

This marks the second trip to Europe taken by the Native group. Last October, they challenged the environmentalist lobby, Greenpeace International, and a coalition of anti-fur harvest advocates that had organized an anti-fur campaign.

That trip was successful as well, in that Greenpeace recognized that Native people don't threaten the environmental and withdrew, Erasmus reports.

He encourages Canadian Aboriginal groups involved in fur trade to set up their own tailoring and marketing outlets to bypass the European grip on the industry, and to have a greater slice of the retail value of the garments.