MP Blaine Calkins honours Fur Institute of Canada

OTTAWA -- Ponoka-Didsbury MP Blaine Calkins rose in the House of Commons to celebrate the Fur Institute of Canada.

The FIC is the official trap-testing agency for the federal government of Canada and all provincial and territorial governments, and is considered the country's leading authority on humane trap research and furbearer conservation. The organization also manages Canada's humane trap research and testing program, most of which is conducted at the laboratories of InnoTech Alberta in Vegreville. 

"The Fur Institute was created in 1983 by Canada's wildlife ministers and serves as Canada's national voice for the fur trade. The Fur Institute is internationally renowned for its expertise in humane trapping and is home to the Seals and Sealing Network, which promotes Canadian seal products at home and abroad. Representing a broad cross-section of the fur trade, from trapping and runway to farm gates and showrooms, this organization represents the interests of over 35,000 Canadian trappers, fur farmers, seal harvesters, artisans and furriers, as well as governments and indigenous nations all involved in the fur trade. Trapping is an essential part of wildlife management, livestock protection, infrastructure maintenance, and species recovery. In short, trappers live in harmony with the land, as opposed to living on it." said Calkins in his member statement.

The Fur Institute of Canada is mandated to provide accurate information relating to the economic, social, cultural and environmental issues surrounding the harvesting of wild and farmed fur in Canada.