Pamela Anderson, host of the 2006 Juno Awards, fields question at a news conference in Halifax on Saturday. (CP / Andrew Vaughan)

Pam Anderson excited as host, but mad about hunt

Updated Sat. Apr. 1 2006 11:43 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Pamela Anderson said Sunday's Juno Awards will be "silly, funny, interesting," but used a press conference Saturday to express her disapproval of the East Coast seal hunt.

Wearing a tight low-cut dress, the model/actress arrived with a Mountie on each arm before posing for pictures and taking the microphone.

Anderson said she is "thrilled" to be hosting the annual event, and said, "We're going to have a really good time."

Many of the reporters' questions centered around a letter Anderson sent Prime Minister Stephen Harper requesting a meeting to discuss the seal hunt.

Harper refused, making it the second time he has turned down the celebrity's request.

"It's too bad. I wish he would have met me. I think it was awful he didn't meet with Paul McCartney and Brigitte Bardot," Anderson said.

"I think it's a very sad situation, and as prime minister, and to have the world stage for the first time, it's really a big mistake to keep up the seal hunt even after the outcry from all over the world against it."

Anderson said she didn't want to take anything away from the Junos "party," but said she will be careful with her words when she tries to get her message on the harvest out.

"It's on my mind, it's bound to come out," she said.

"I want to bring out more awareness about it. I found out so much about it lately and I just don't think the community knows what's really going on with it, and the way it's being presented has been just wrong, I think."

Fisheries officials maintain the hunt is misrepresented by animal rights groups and in the media.

Anderson said her fans support her view, and they told her so during autograph sessions Saturday morning.

"I think when people think of Canadian Club they should think of a good whiskey, not jerks beating pups on the ice," she said.

"I'm Canadian and I'm really proud of Canada and I think that this is just a big mistake."

Anderson said supporters are considering boycotting Canadian seafood.

"I think it's going to get worse in the world community," she said.

Anderson said she has a petition with 50,000 names on it that was collected in one week.

In her letter to Harper, Anderson said animal rights groups will escalate their efforts to stop the hunt.

"It's my mission right now," she said, adding she's very proud of her work with organizations like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.)

Anderson called the harvest "violent" and "unnecessary," but admitted she has not met with a commercial fisherman involved in the hunt.

She added banning the hunt would be a good opportunity for Harper to become popular with Canada's youth.

"There's not one young person, I think, in Canada that agrees with the seal hunt," she said.

"I'm not going to be preachy about it …. I just think it's unnecessary."

On the Junos, Anderson mentioned she had been sought for years to host the gala. She said she was able to do it this year because of work schedule, the fact that she's traveling more and her sons being older.

Anderson hasn't prepared much for the event, saying she feels most comfortable "winging it."

"I've hosted some shows before, they didn't fall apart," she joked.

Anderson said she is looking forward to seeing all the performers, and praised Halifax as a "beautiful" city.

The 2006 Juno Awards is being broadcast on CTV Sunday from the Metro Centre in Halifax, N.S., beginning at 7 p.m.

Performers include Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, Nickelback, Bryan Adams, Michael Buble, Bedouin Soundclash and Broken Social Scene.

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