Brigitte Bardot remembered in Canada for fighting seal hunt

Film critic Chris Bumbray discusses the long lasting impact of Brigitte Bardot, who passed away at the age of 91.

French actor Brigitte Bardot who died Sunday at the age of 91, was also an animal rights activist and a vocal opponent of Canada’s seal hunt.

Bardot, who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century, is known to be the first high-profile celebrity to speak out against Canada’s seal hunt in 1976.

The following year, she travelled to Newfoundland to witness it herself. Asked by reporters what her plans were for the trip, Bardot replied “to save baby seals, that’s all.”

During that trip she was photographed holding a baby harp seal, known as a whitecoat, and the CBC reported that her protest caused a major reduction in the cost of seal pelts, affecting the livelihoods of people in fishing communities in Atlantic Canada and in the Arctic.

In 2006, Bardot returned to Canada to protest the commercial harp seal hunt.

During that trip, she had hoped to meet with then-prime minister Stephen Harper, though the Conservative government declined a meeting.

The Guardian reported that at a press conference while in Ottawa, Bardot said she was “pleading” and that she wanted to see the “barbaric massacre” stop before she died.

Seals weren’t the only Canadian animal Bardot sought to protect.

In 2022, Bardot condemned a Montreal suburb’s controversial plan to kill most of the deer living in a local park. Bardot published a letter on her foundation’s website asking the mayor of Longueuil, Que., to stop what she described as the “planned crossbow slaughter” in Michel-Chartrand park.

“If the death penalty is pronounced for these poor animals, teams of hunters armed with their terrible crossbows will invade a usually peaceful place, popular with families and tourists, and sow death in the heart of your city,” the letter read.

Ultimately, 105 deer were killed in an operation the city said was needed to restore the ecological balance in the park.

The Fisheries and Oceans Canada website says the government monitors the seal harvest closely. It says changes to Marine Mammal Regulations in 2009 “further enhance the humaneness of the annual seal harvest” and include a three-step process to ensure animals are harvested “quickly and humanely.”

The website also says the rules stipulate that only seals which have reached the age of “self-sufficiency” can be harvested.

“The harvesting of harp seal pups, known as whitecoats, and hooded seal pups, known as bluebacks, is illegal in Canada and has been since 1987,” the website says. “The seals that are harvested are self-reliant, independent animals.”

Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, known as PETA, said in a statement that the nonprofit organization will miss Bardot, who she described as “an angel for animals who went to bat and to court to protect them all.”

Newkirk said Bardot was a vegetarian for years, a strong voice for all species and that she sold her jewelry and other possessions to start a sanctuary and defend animals.

“She once said that only through protecting animals did she truly bloom -- and we call on the public to honor her memory by doing something kind for animals today, so that the seeds she planted continue to flourish,” said Newkirk.

Other celebrities who have condemned Canada’s seal hunt include Pamela Anderson, Paul McCartney and Sarah McLachlan.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, created in 1986 by Bardot, is dedicated to animal protection. It calls for the end of several practices, including animal shows, animal testing and bullfighting.

The website includes information about Bardot’s work to fight the seal hunt, and features a photo of her with a baby seal on its home page.

A post made on the website in September 2024 said Bardot continued her fight for seals, even as she turned 90. Last year, the European Union launched a review of its ban on importing seal products.

A group of Canadian senators from Yukon, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador called last year for Europe to repeal its seal products ban, arguing that “the socio-economic impacts of this ban have been disastrous for communities along Canada’s East Coast and in Nunavut, and the conversation around sealing is rife with misinformation.”

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation website, on the other hand, says Bardot sent an open letter to the president of the European Commission last year calling for her to focus on improving animal protection rather than reversing measures.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2025.