INUVIK
For the past two weeks, students in a pilot program took country food out of the cold and into an industrial kitchen.

Tara Taylor packages sausages for future use during a country foods processing course last week. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo

"We have the animals, we just have to learn how to make it happen," said participant Sylvia Firth. "It was endless - we can do so much, we're just fighting against time."

For two weeks, participants learned how to prepare and preserve a wide variety of country foods in a fully equipped trailer behind Aurora College. The program was put together by the Inuvialuit Community Economic Development Organization (CEDO), with CanNor money and in partnership with Aurora College. The intent is to help people learn how to use the meat taken off the land in the region.

CEDO project director Jiri Raska said the idea came about after a series of events in 2014 - namely the Inuit Circumpolar Council General Assembly - increased the demand for locally produced food beyond what producers could meet. He said the will from the communities was clearly there.

"The goal is to enable individuals who may already be producing foods to add value and elevate their product through adding shelf life and proper packaging, reducing the need to keep them frozen and making them more attractive to tourists," he said, adding the program should also serve as an introduction to the regulatory system and retail market for country foods as well.

To this end, the organization created a purpose-built, off-grid, mobile training unit, replete with the best equipment possible for processing fish and meat. Students smoked and cured fish and made a lot of sausage, among many other things.

"I had some sort of idea, but a lot of stuff I didn't, and I learned," said Brian McDonald, owner of Alestine's. "Cleanliness is such a big part of it. You have to have the right tools."

The question of equipment is the biggest hurdle for both current business owners and potential entrepreneurs. Firth said that of course everyone there would want to sell processed country food, but the investment in thousands of dollars worth of equipment was a challenge.

"It's all set up and ready to go here," she set. "The 10 of us who are hear are fortunate."

As for the future of the program, nothing is set in stone. Raymond Savard, the regional program director with Aurora College, said he and Raska have been fielding a lot of calls asking about next steps.

"As in every pilot project there are compromises," said Raska.

"For the investment we were able to make, I think we have a unique facility that can be built upon to serve many future needs. We intend to continuously develop curriculum and programming to serve each Inuvialuit community's specific needs to ensure that all opportunities in this sector are maximized. A minimum of two programs will be scheduled per fiscal year."