The Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation is buying muktuk and other country foods from local harvesters, paying $250 per pail for clean muktuk, $90 per large bag of mipku or ooksuk, and $50 per medium bag of berries. Payments are issued weekly on Fridays, and harvesters should contact Calvin Pokiak to arrange inspection and drop-off.
The program aims to strengthen food security in the hamlet of about 1,000 people. In 2017, 43.8 percent of residents reported concerns about affording food, and by 2022 prices were nearly 20 percent higher than in comparable communities after the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway opened and federal freight subsidies ended.
Muktuk, mipku, and ooksuk are culturally important traditional foods for the Inuvialuit. Country food provides 25 to 50 percent of all protein intake across Inuit Nunangat, according to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. More than half of Tuktoyaktuk residents hunt or fish, so the purchasing program also provides income for harvesters.
Calvin Pokiak, the community contact for the program, is a former MLA for Nunakput and has served as mayor and councillor of Tuktoyaktuk.
The initiative is one of several community-led responses to rising food costs. In March 2026, the federal government announced over $1.75 million for five food security projects in the Northwest Territories.
