The Queen’s representative in Canada has delighted locals and outraged campaigners by eating a chunk of raw seal heart cut freshly from a victim of the annual hunt.
Michaëlle Jean, the Governor General of Canada, helped gut the mammal in front of television cameras before slipping a slice of heart into her mouth and announcing that it tasted like raw fish.
As she wiped the blood from her fingers, she said that it was delicious. “It’s like sushi,” she said. “And it’s very rich in protein.”
Ms Jean, who arrived in Canada as a refugee from Haiti 40 years ago, was appointed by the Queen in 2005. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said today: “We’re not offering any comment on her actions but her position remains the same – she is still the Governor General.”
The Governor General was meeting hundreds of Inuit at a community festival in Rankin Inlet in Nunavut on Monday when she joined in the seal butchery using a traditional ulu blade to slice the meat off the skin.
After cutting through the flesh, she turned to the woman beside her and asked: “Could I try the heart?”
The act has surprised most Canadians, but it would be considered normal among the aboriginal community in northern Canada and Greenland. Continued....
