Award-winning Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq says Facebook has apologized to her for suspending her account over a photo of a family friend wearing sealskin coat.
The outspoken Nunavut-based artist said Thursday she was notified that her account was being blocked for 24 hours after she shared the friend’s photo, along with the hashtags #eatseal and #wearseal.
The news of the suspension caused an immediate social media backlash and the post eventually reappeared on her page. Tagaq tweeted that Facebook contacted her and apologized.
“We’re very sorry about this mistake. The enforcement action was made in error and we fixed it as soon as we were able to investigate,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “Our team processes millions of reports each week, and we sometimes get things wrong.”
The post is now visible again on her official Facebook page.
Tagaq has used her international fame to rally against the European Union ban on commercial sealing, which has severely affected Canada’s Inuit who depend on seal meat for a big part of their diet but also sell the seal skins to earn a modest living. The Inuit also use seal skins to make traditional waterproof clothing and footwear.
Tagaq who is in Greenland for a series of concerts could not be reached in time for this publication, but here’s a statement she emailed to the Nunatsiaq News in Iqaluit:
Over the years it has become apparent that anti-sealers are not aware of Inuit culture or history, and where we sit on a socio-economic standpoint. To be against sealing is to literally be taking food out of children’s mouths. The isolation, the climate, and the colonial process (which included removing us from a nomadic lifestyle by killing off sled dogs and relocating families in order to claim the northwest passage) has cornered us into [a] capitalist environment. We must pay rent. We must pay taxes. We must feed our families. Grocery prices are high because the food is brought up by jet. The sociological ramifications of the residential school program have been the leading cause of trauma. We need money to improve our quality of life to alleviate the dismal statistics that we live under… To see healthy, fed, safe vegans judging us is highly unnerving and insulting. Yet we explain calmly.
To be against sealing is to be against the survival of Inuit.
With files from CBC News
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