Iqaluit (June 23/03) - Brian Soucey is an Iqaluit business owner with a dream.

He's been in the refrigeration business for years. Now he wants to start a country foods company in Iqaluit, specializing in the sale of frozen caribou, seal and fish products.

"We don't feed them by-products, caribou eat from the tundra," says Simon Awa, assistant deputy minister of sustainable development, of in Nunavut . - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

He is working on getting the company up and running with his two sons right now, but isn't sure when his opening day will be.

There is one thing he does know, though: the mad cow scare shook him up pretty badly, along with everyone else in his industry.

"Actually, now I wonder if it's really worth going into the business, you know what I mean?" said Soucey on Wednesday. "It's a real touchy situation."

When asked if he thinks Nunavut will get a piece of the $190 million mad cow compensation package the federal government announced on Tuesday, he said, "I doubt it," adding, "they are mainly concentrating on the beef industry right now."

However, sales of caribou and muskox from Nunavut took a hit when the U.S. closed its borders to all Canadian meat products because of the isolated case of mad cow.

Right now there's an order of caribou sitting in a freezer down south headed for the U.S. worth $34,000, said Simon Awa, assistant deputy minister of sustainable development.

"I never thought I would be talking about mad cow in Nunavut," said Awa on Wednesday. "For Inuit to understand mad cow, it's like cannibalism. One animal eating their own kind."

Thus, mad cow disease, a potentially fatal disease for humans, was born.

But such a disease would have been impossible for a caribou or muskox to ever get in Nunavut, Awa said. Animals here are not in feed lots, they feed off the land.

In the overall picture, it is hard to say just how much of an economic impact the ban on meat has had on Nunavut so far. But Awa said the annual caribou harvest in Coral Harbour employed 60 Inuit.

Half a million dollars a year is generated by the Nunavut caribou harvest.

"That is a lot of money for non-decentralized communities," Awa said. The hunt also made hunters eligible for unemployment benefits.

Kivalliq Foods in Rankin Inlet also employs about 18 full-time meat processors because of the caribou harvest.

"According to southern standards, it's peanuts," Awa said. "But for Nunavut it's huge."

If the ban continues, tourism will feel it, too, he said.

"Around summertime, August, September, we get big game hunters. But if the ban is still on they're not going to come."

The U.S. ban on Canadian meat is still on and includes all ruminants, or animals with four stomachs, like cattle, sheep, goats, caribou, and muskox.

"It boggles the mind. One cow, affecting everything," Awa said.

The total federal-territorial compensation package (60/40 split) is actually worth $460 million for short term relief, Awa said.

How Nunavut will be compensated is still being worked out, he added.

"Our message to the federal government is 'Don't forget us,'" said Awa.