Seaspiracy on Netflix: Documentary's call to action sparks discourse on Inuit seal hunt in Canada
The Instagram account for Netflix’s Seaspiracy, a documentary about the environmental impact of fishing, recently used its platform to target Canadian seal hunting.
The since-deleted post called to “Stop the Canadian Seal Hunt,” which included a link to a petition from the Humane Society that encourages the Canadian government to end the practice. It’s since inspired an online discourse about how Inuit seal hunting is often misrepresented.
In a TikTok post that’s since gone viral, an Iñupiaq woman named Ugrunna addressed the misinformation that’s being spread as the result of the call to action by Seaspiracy, which has over half a million followers on Instagram.
For vegan twitter pic.twitter.com/DUfFjZEQAX
— Jessica Diamond ♿ (@JessicaXDiamond) April 10, 2021
“Thousands of people have signed this petition not understanding the impact it has on Inuit,” she says in the video. “Yes, commercial fishing is a problem but Inuit should not be grouped into that.”
She goes on to explain that as a result of poverty, high cost of grocery store provisions and limited access to healthy foods, Inuit rely on traditional ways of hunting as a means to survive, particularly in a climate with extreme conditions. "Non-natives don't understand" that, she added.
“This form of action does absolutely nothing for positive change,” Ugrunna says at the end.
The crew running Seaspiracy’s Instagram account responded to her video in a since-expired story this week.
“We recently put out a post sharing information about the annual seal hunt in Canada...the post however did not make the important distinction between mass slaughter of seals and the Inuit subsistence hunt, which has understandably caused some confusion and concern,” it read. “We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ugranna (sic) who brought this to our attention and clarify that we were referring to the industrial mass slaughter of seals, and not targeting those who depend on hunting.”
Ugrunna posted a follow-up video acknowledging the progress.
“I’m grateful that they’re listening, learning, and understanding the impact their voices have,” she said.
In a message to Yahoo Canada News, Ugrunna said she had heard about the situation with Seaspiracy from @koonoo.han, a Canadian Inuk.
In the post, she explained how the Seaspiracy account is spreading damaging information.
“It’s damaging because Indigenous people who still hunt for survival are being categorized in the same colour, in the same ugly picture,” she wrote. “Indigenous people who still hunt for food for survival, for their families, their communities.”
Crystal Martin-Lapenskie, president of the National Inuit Youth Council, says the spreading of misinformation damages Inuit communities and the dialogue happening on social media can be hit or miss.
“There’s so many conspiracies ... People will believe whatever they see on social media without looking at the legitimacy of the post or information,” she tells Yahoo Canada News. “TikTok is really popular and there’s a lot of Inuit that are on there trying to educate all people about who we are and what our cultures and traditions are like, but there’s always backlash to that.”
She adds that people need to understand that the seal hunt is an essential part of the Inuit culture and tradition and that won’t change.
“Seals do sustain our people," Martin-Lapenskie says. "The meat fills bellies, is shared amongst families and communities and even inter-communities. It’s not just the seal skin, which is the economy part, the food is the socio aspect of our lives.”
Users took to social media to share their thoughts on the original post and urging clarity and education on the differences between commercial fishing and the Inuit seal hunt.
Stopping the seal hunt = stopping food, clothing, and revenue supply for Inuit. I've worn seal skin to keep me warm in the cold winters on James Bay and I know the skin/fur was thanks to the seal hunt. I signed this petition. https://t.co/ABbtvkkF96 https://t.co/h73jubXnsd
— jen e mae (@Jen_E_Mae) April 11, 2021
That Seaspiracy documentary coming out as anti-seal hunt (anti-Inuit racism) is sad but not at all surprising given the lack of real research they put into the documentary
— Yoni Mitchell (@jillpineau) April 10, 2021
🛑STOP ATTACKING🛑 traditional food ways! @Seaspiracy @Netflix_CA #Seaspiracy is ugly propaganda colonial capitalistic hogwash that is hurting Inuit AGAIN. Cancel #Netflix - there are other streaming services! We stand with Inuit. #WatchAngryInuk https://t.co/N1P5HwwsMh
— Fishing for Success (@IslandRooms) April 11, 2021
One the Main reason I haven’t watched seapiracy is because, base off the trailer alone, all I saw was a bunch of yt people in boats going to foreign countries and villianizing Asians and indigenous people... https://t.co/9szI8IzHQg
— lydia #BLM (@lydiadocx) April 12, 2021
The information in this thread is so out of date and it reeks of anti-Inuit bullshiet. The images are extremely misleading (hunting white coats has been banned for decades), it is propaganda to tug at your heart strings. So gross. https://t.co/WyLwFH1Ugo
— Anna (@anna_r_b_lambe) April 10, 2021
Reminder that oil and mineral companies benefit massively from anti-seal hunt propaganda. If Inuit and other northern/Atlantic indigenous people cannot generate a livelihood from sealing then it becomes much harder to resist the encroachment of resource extraction industries.
— britt on the bird (@britwithanie) April 12, 2021
In March, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans responded to a release by the Humane Society that called for the shut down of Canada's seal hunt that takes place every year around the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The DFO told The Chronicle Herald that no Total Allowable Catches (TACs) have been set for the seal hunt since the previously announced TAC in 2016, because “removals remain well within sustainable levels.”
Minister Bernadette Jordan told the outlets that the government supports a “sustainable, humane, and well-regulated seal harvest, and we recognize the critical role it plays in Indigenous, rural, and coastal communities.”