Inuit-owned coffee company open for business in Cambridge Bay

People in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, will wake up and sip a cup of the territory's first Inuit-owned coffee on Monday morning.

The coffee startup Kaappittiaq which means "good coffee" in Innuinaqtun is celebrating its grand opening Sunday. Locals gathered at Kuugaq Cafe for some merchandise and free coffee at the company's open house.

The business is owned and run by the non-profitKitikmeot Heritage Society, also known asPitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq, whose board is made up of local elders.

Profits from the sale will help fund the society, which helps keep Inuit traditions alive withcultural programs such as parka andqulliq-makingworkshops, and teaching children theInuinnaqtunlanguage.

"We feel it's important to be starting to create Indigenous to Indigenous business networks. That's something there's not a lot of right now," saysBrendanGriebel, a research associate with the society, who helped start this new coffee company.

Griebel said that by solely relying on government funding or grants, often organizations have to follow funders' priorities.

"Having this income from the coffeewill bring in a bunch of money that we can dedicate to areas where we really know it's needed."

This startup hasbeen in the planning stages for almost two years.

The company partnered with Cafe Vasquezlocated in San Francisco, Peru, which directly buys its beans from Indigenous coffee bean farmers in the country's northern region.

The coffee is then roasted and packaged through Beaver Rock Roastery inBarrie, Ont.

Griebelsaid the hope is to sell the beans throughout the Arctic, and 75 per cent of all sales directly invested into Inuit culture and language programs.

The "big project" now is to have it on shelves in grocery stores across the North, said Griebel.

Griebel said though it's expensive, the society hopes to one day find a way to roast and package the coffeefrom Cambridge Bay and employ community members.

But for now, it's developing a training program with the roasteryto send locals South to learn the trade.

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