Time to reclaim the moral high ground

Page 6

Some good news on the fur front for trappers in Canada: Europe has agreed to a postponement of one year in the wild fur regulation which would see Canadian and U.S. fur banned.

While trappers can collectively breath a sigh of relief, it must be realized that this is just a brief respite. The battle has been won in the short term, but the war lies ahead. The ban still lurks and Jan. 1, 1997, will be upon us in a wink of an eye.

Efforts to pressure the European Union must be continued. The eco-zealots who drive much of Europe's policy need to understand the economic penalty that the ban will impose on Aboriginal people.

This is not to say that we should support efforts to impose our own ban on automobiles as was suggested by the Metis Association of the Northwest Territories. Such a tit-for-tat approach is premature and juvenile in the extreme. Besides, the effects of such a ban would be negligible. The type of vehicle in their proposed ban is in the luxury market, which includes cars like the Lamborghini.

Apart from the pettiness and impracticality of it, the problem with the fur ban is that the people behind it have been allowed, almost unchallenged, to take the moral high ground. Europeans have been separated from nature for so long that Bambi is more real for them than any actual wild animal. No matter what they think, they feel that cute, fuzzy-wuzzies shouldn't be killed, but should be allowed to live in harmony and prosperity with each other in the wild.

We know that it isn't the way. What needs to happen is that we must somehow take our knowledge and expertise, and show the European people that knee-jerk bans don't solve anything. The biggest problem is that solutions like this one feel awfully good to those on the moral high ground, and the only people who'll be damaged by the European position are the North American Aboriginal people. Once again.