'If we look at the big picture, this is what we need right now.'

Some Igloolik residents worry they may need to choose between gainful employment or fermented walrus meat.

It's no easy choice, says mayor Paul Quassa. After all, his community is renowned for producing some of the tastiest igunaq – raw walrus meat that's been buried for several months, until it reaches the consistency of cheese.

Some Igloolik hunters worry this proud tradition may be disrupted by Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.'s proposal to transform Steensby Inlet, northeast of Igloolik, into a deep-water port used to ship ore to smelters in Europe.

Baffinland says it's tried to accommodate the concerns of hunters from Igloolik and Hall Beach by selecting an eastern shipping route that avoids a favoured hunting ground on the west coast of Rowley Island.

But nobody knows how the walrus that frequent Foxe Basin will react to the year-round presence of enormous freighters, up to 135,000 tonnes, that could become a daily sight by 2014 if the company's plans become reality.

And the path these ships would take through the sea ice each day might force hunters to detour from their traditional route while travelling to Baffin Island to hunt caribou.

Likewise, nobody knows how caribou will react to the 10 trains, each carrying 110 cars daily full of ore, that would bustle along a 143-km railway line to the mine at Mary River.

Then there are the numerous rivers and lakes bearing arctic char that surround Steensby Inlet. How will the fish fare?

These are all questions that arose when representatives of Baffinland recently held a public meeting in Igloolik, which Quassa says was attended by about 60 residents – a turnout twice the size of a similar meeting in Iqaluit.

But there are other considerations. Igloolik has about 1,700 residents, but few jobs. There are a lot of bored youth. And there never seems to be enough money to repair the community's aging infrastructure.

Baffinland's iron mine proposal is only beginning to enter Nunavut's regulatory system, but if it goes ahead, it would produce hundreds of high-paying jobs, with 450 workers at the port and mine at any given time.

So, despite fears of what may happen to wildlife, Quassa says most residents, including him, support the mine – provided the company takes whatever precautions it can to avoid spooking animals.

"We have to think ahead to the future, the elders say, rather than today. It's jobs we need to think about," Quassa said.

"If we look at the big picture, this is what we need right now."