Although his last concert here was October 12, 2004, that hasn't stopped Morrissey from taking aim at Canada's annual seal hunt and describing the country as "fashionably dead."
On the weekend the British singer posted a message he wrote entitled "This Sorrowful Canada" on the site True To You which referred to Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea.
"The seal hunt in Canada is struggling to make a start this year due to almost no markets, and China especially is refusing to sell Canadian seal meat," Morrissey wrote. "Thank you, China!"
The singer cited how the annual seal hunt began Monday "against a strong wave of trade and court challenges," and then took issue with Shea's comments regarding how baby seals are "killed humanely" by high-powered rifles.
"Is this a death that Gail Shea would wish for herself?" Morrissey asked. "Would it make her happy to be shot by a high-powered rifle? If she considers such butchery to be so 'humane,' why doesn't she place herself amongst the tens of thousands of grey-coated harp seals that will be slaughtered within the next few weeks? She could then test the humane aspect of having her head blown off for herself. Only then could she be thought to speak with any authority on the subject."
Shea reportedly said animal rights groups had "put a lot of pressure on there as well, on the Chinese" regarding a stalled trade agreement between Canada and China. "We have to keep telling the world that this is a sustainable hunt. It's a humane hunt."
In his latest message, Morrissey then praised the "beautiful country" and "good people" of Canada with a back-handed compliment of sorts. "But good people are often ineffectual," he wrote. "Internationally, Canada's sorry image is due entirely to its seal slaughter -- which is greedy and barbaric, and it is dismaying to witness such ignorance in 2014. Sound reason tells us that only those of the thinnest intellect wear animal fur, and because the Canadian government are concerned with animals only economically, killing baby seals with lightning brutality is now Canada's primary global image. Until this massacre is abolished, Canada itself is regrettably fashionably dead."
In 2006, Morrissey posted another message on the same site explaining his rationale for no longer performing in Canada. The singer was touring behind Ringleader Of The Tormenters at the time but stated no Canadian dates would be slated "in protest against the barbaric slaughter of over 325,000 baby seals which is now underway.
The message also controversially criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his explanation as to the seal hunt's continuation. "Construction of German gas chambers also provided work for someone -- this is not a moral or sound reason for allowing suffering," Morrissey wrote, adding Canada "placed itself alongside China as the cruelest and most self-serving nation."
As for Shea herself, she has yet to comment on Morrissey's statement. Morrissey is releasing a new studio album entitled "World Peace Is None Of Your Business" in July.
On the other side of the seal hunt argument is Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq, who recently went viral with a photo of her baby lying beside a dead seal as part of the pro-hunt #Sealfie protest online.
