OTTAWA - Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq is in Geneva, Switzerland, to argue against Europe's ban on seal products.

Despite aggressive opposition from Canada and to a lesser degree Norway, the EU's ban on seal products was upheld late last year by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Canada announced its intention to appeal almost immediately and Aglukkaq leads a delegation to participate in three days of hearings before the WTO.

In its ruling, the WTO indicated that while the ban may have broken trade rules, it was justified because of "public moral concerns" with the seal hunt. The ruling didn't specify that public outrage had to be founded, something with which Aglukkaq takes issue.

"When you start making conservation decisions on moral issues, we've lost the battle on conservation," Aglukkaq told QMI Agency.

As a native Northerner, Aglukkaq calls the ban "emotional" and "discriminatory," despite an apparent lack of clarity on what the ban actually entails.

Though the WTO ruling specifically deals with commercial sealing and protects Aboriginal seal hunts, Aglukkaq explains that farms and greenhouses "aren't in the Arctic" and Northerners need to eat.

The day before Aglukkaq arrived in Geneva, a rally was held in Halifax to protest of the seal hunt. Only about six people showed up, which belied the divisive nature of the debate.

Animal welfare groups have long called the practice inhumane. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAWA) says the seal industry is a dying one that simply wouldn't survive without subsidies.

IFAW's Sheryl Fink called Aglukkaq's mission to the WTO "a potentially risky move."

"Unless Minister Aglukkaq has some legal expertise we are unaware of, her presence at this hearing seems to be a clear attempt to play on emotion and completely inappropriate to the discussions being held," Fink said. "It may even run the risk of annoying the panel."

Russia, once one of the largest seal product importers in the world, banned those products in 2011, leading to significant challenges to market access for the industry.

A poll conducted by Abacus Data in January found 22% of Canadians oppose the seal hunt in any form, while 63% of respondents indicated concerns about the negative consequences of the E.U.'s ban.