Grise Fiord (Dec 13/04) - Fresh muskox meat may be available to residents and nearby communities as soon as February now that an instructor has been found for a planned muskox meat processing course.

An application to provide the $10,000 needed was approved as part of the Government of Nunavut's community initiatives program.

Five students are expected to begin the four- to five-week program this month.

"We already know it's in high demand," said Jimmie Qaapik, the community's economic development officer. "Now we'll have a chance to get fairly fresh ground meat," he said, noting that ground beef had previously been flown up from the south.

The plan is to start small by providing meat for residents, tourists and possibly surrounding communities.

Iqaluit and Resolute are likely to be the first out-of-town customers because there are connecting flights.

A past processing operation failed because it started off too large, Qaapik said.

Course participants will also learn how to cut steaks, make sausages and properly clean the working area.

Meat will be processed at the community freezer, which has equipment for processing and smoking meat.

Five of the community's yearly allotment of 35 muskox tags will be used as part of the project, said Malachi Arreak, the Department of Economic Development and Transportation's director of community operations for the Baffin Region.

"It offers some employment for a community that doesn't have very many opportunities," he said.

The current funding will be used for training, but an application for money to purchase additional capital as part of an eventual commercial operation would have to go through another agency. The Iviq Hunters and Trappers Organization is taking applications for course participants.