A father and son go sealing in the Magdalen Islands, circa 2011. They are pulling a small sleigh to carry seals. Although seals are usually shot with a rifle, they are also carrying hakapiks. Hakapiks were made mandatory following an appeal from Brigitte Bardot that sealers be able to dispatch seals in the most humane way possible. The best tool for dispatching young seals humanely is the hakapik since it is impossible to miss and death is instantaneous. Hakapiks also have other uses. The handle is used to palp the ice to see if it is thick enough to walk on. The hook is used to pull seals to the sleigh or boat. A sealer can also use the hook when he falls into the water to pull himself back onto the ice. Otherwise, he could freeze to death or be dragged by the current under the ice and drown. Photo: Yoanis Menge / Intra-Quebec Sealers Association.

Sealing in the Magdalen Islands, circa 2008. Conditions are pretty good, with some ice but not so much that moving the boats around becomes difficult. When seals are spotted, the boats manoeuver as close as they can without scaring them. They will then be shot from on board, or if the ice is strong enough, a sealer may jump onto the ice and try to reach the seals before they escape. He will then dispatch them with a blow to the head from a hakapik. (In Canada, the hammer end of the hakapik is used for this.) Whether shooting or using the hakapik, sealers always follow the 3-step process to ensure a seal is dead before bringing it on board. These steps are: shooting or hitting the head; palping the skull to make sure both hemisphere are crushed (if not, use the hakapik to do it); and bleeding. Photo: Jean-Claude Richard / Intra-Quebec Sealers Association.

Inuit sealer in a wolverine hood, Quebec, circa 2006. Photo: Raoul Jomphe / Intra-Quebec Sealers Association.

Morris Calman, owner of Canadian Furriers, Lethbridge, Alberta, in 1970.