The difference is, apparently, that the Canadian hunters don't have to abide by the laws of the land regarding the hunt. That is what the observer is pointing out.

This really is unnecessary. While I don't begrudge the Inuit hunt, I've read that they do not participate in the commercial hunt and that their take amounts to three percent of the total kill. Here, reportedly, is a letter from an Inuit named Arnaituk M. Tarkirk, of Quebec:

We have been hearing all about the European vote to ban the importation of seal products from the so-called seal hunt.

I am an Inuk and I would like to say what I think about this.

Peter Ittinuur, Northwest Territory MP, has been saying that this vote will put a lot of Inuit on welfare. This is stupid. The money from the hunt goes to Norway mostly and has nothing to do with the Inuit.

We are skillful hunters who hunt adult animals for food, That is not the same as bashing a pup, which can’t move, over the head.

In fact, if the seal hunt stopped, we would benefit the most. There would be 180,000 more seals left for us to eat when they are a few years older, and also people would not have such an aversion to sealskin products as they have after seeing the way they kill the pups, so craft work made with adult seals would be more popular.

The Hudson Bay Company and the government are just using the Inuit to further their own purposes. I am surprised Peter Ittinuur, whom I know, could allow himself to be used like that. I know people who are against the seal hunt, and they are not against the Inuit.

I am an Inuk, and I oppose the seal hunt.

And, let's do talk about seals and cod: http://www.fisherycrisis.com/index.html

To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The seals aren't the problem. Man has unbalanced the ecosystem.

1. I am arrogant.
2. I can make anyone laugh IRL. Anyone.
3. I wet the bed until I was 11.
4. I almost drowned in Hudson Bay when I was 3. My mother tells me she's never seen anyone run as fast as my father did that day.
5. I am supposed to have an older sister named Stephanie. She died 3 hours after birth.
6. After Stephanie, my parents tried to conceive for over 3 years, gave up, adopted my older sister, then found out they were pregnant a week later.
7. I have 13 siblings (most are adopted or fostered, 3 half-siblings, including 1 I've never met). I have no full siblings.
8. I am not fluent in my native tongue, and this has been a source of shame for me my entire life.
9. My wife is teaching me more of my native tongue living in southern Canada than I ever learned back home.
10. I tested (twice) in the 97th percentile for IQ in all of Canada. I took "enrichment" classes until high school, when we moved back north (no enrichment classes there).
11. I used to play D&D and Magic the Gathering, but was always on at least 1 sports team throughout school.
12. I had my first child when I was far too young.
13. I am overweight (but losing weight).
14. My wife tells me my best feature is my forehead (I'm not kidding).
15. I am going into Law School next year.
16. I smoke.
17. I take a certain pleasure in making people look like fools if I think they feel superior to me.
18. I am very self-conscious and I may try too hard.
19. My Inuktitut name is Nuliajuk, after my grandfather.
20. I make friends easily but rarely maintain relationships. I only have 5 'buddies'.
21. I have a very high tolerance for cold. My skin gets cold, but I don't feel cold.
22. People have guessed I am: Native American, Mexican, Phillipino, Samoan, Hawaaiin, Portuguese, Chinese, and Korean.
23. I have very little cartilage in my nose.
24. I procrastinate (thanks videosift).
25. I have abnormally strong legs. (I once maxed out a leg-press machine with 1 leg).