Iqaluit (June 16/03) - Buoyed by support from Western Canadian premiers, Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik urged the United States to lift their ban on caribou meat.

Premier Paul Okalik says mad cow disease has nothing to do with caribou meat. - NNSL photo

The ban on Northern caribou at the U.S. border was put in place three weeks ago after the mad cow scare in Alberta crippled the Canadian beef industry.

If continued, the ban could seriously cut into Nunavut's $400,000-$500,000 caribou meat industry, Okalik said.

"The problem is caribou is a niche product in the U.S.," Okalik said from Kelowna, B.C., on Tuesday where Western premiers met June 8-10. "Once it's off the menu, it's no longer served."

Okalik used the conference to stress that caribou is "totally unrelated" to mad cow.

"There's no mad cow in musk ox or caribou," he said.

Mad cow disease was confirmed in one Canadian cow on May 20.

Since then the Canadian beef industry has been in an economic tailspin.

Western premiers have criticized Ottawa for doing more for Ontario in the wake of the SARS outbreak than for struggling Western beef cattle farmers.

During the conference in Kelowna, premiers were on the same page for a number of issues, including Northern devolution that will allow Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to have more control over revenues generated by their resources.

The premiers also agreed to continue to lobby the federal government about being more involved in senatorial appointments.

They also support the Northern premiers' desire to have federally funded economic development programs.

Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon are the only jurisdictions in Canada without those programs.