The MHA for the Torngat Mountains District, Lela Evans, left the PC Party in the House of Assembly on Monday, November 1st, 2021.

We spoke with Evans and she says she had a meeting with the Premier to discuss the reasons why she left and what she was hoping to accomplish.

She says that things need to be done and worked on to help with the district.

Evans adds that she is open to working with the government to change a lot of the things such as the high price of electricity, gas, and food.

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The famous Twin Flames, Jaaji Okpik and Chelsea June were scheduled to perform along the North coast this week.

But sadly, they had been cancelled due to weather and rescheduled to perform in the new year.

On their way back, they decided last minute to perform while in St. John’s.

So, starting at 7 pm and doors opening at 6:30, they will do a special pop-up performance to start their Spirit Song Festival 2021.

This will take place at the 42 Bannerman Street, St. John’s, NL.

Please note that they did have limited tickets and are already sold out.

Another medical diversion is in place at Janeway Children’s Hospital.

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit has been at, or near, full capacity since Sunday, November 14.

The hospitals diversion protocol has been enacted as a result, meaning that any new admissions to the PICU will be diverted to Halifax.

Eastern Health the reason for the diversion is combination of the number and high acuity of patients as well as the availability of special trained staff who provide the required level of care foe that Unit.

If a patient has to be diverted to Halifax, a social worker will work with the family to help them access the financial supports available to them to enable their travel to Halifax. MCP also provides some supports in those cases according to Eastern Health.

The diversion is expected to be in place for the next few days.

The Torngat Wildlife, Plants and Secretariat held a Tuttusiugiannik Workshop in Nain in September and had a lot of great feedback.

As a part of this, they are hiring a community coordinator to support this year’s Tuttusiugiannik (caribou trip) out of Nain.

This will lead youth into the winter range of the George River herd on a caribou knowledge sharing trip.

They hope to observe and photograph the herd, but no caribou will be harvested due to the hunting ban.

This trip will provide youth that haven’t had the chance to go on a caribou hunt since the ban to gain on-the-land experience and learn traditional skills along the way.

This is a flexible, part-time position starting mid-January and lasting until mid-April.

The ideal candidate for this position is extremely organized, comfortable speaking publicly, and has experience working with youth.

Extensive land-based experience is also an asset for this position, and preference will be given to beneficiaries of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement.

For more information, you can contact Meredith Purcell at (709) 896-8912 or email her at meredithpurcell@torngatsecretariat.ca.

The province reports there are 4 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 today.

Three are in the Central Health region and one is in Eastern Health.

There are 22 active cases of the virus in the province with no one in the hospital.

Chief Medical Officer of Health. Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says vaccination rates in the province are high and they’re anticipating the ok for roll out for vaccines for the approximately 35,000 school aged children ages 5-11.

As of November 15, nearly 89% of those eligible were fully vaccinated and 94% have received their first dose. Fitzgerald says they eagerly awaiting for approval of the Pfizer vaccine for the children.

They anticipate it will 4-6 months before that age group is immunized.

The Nain Husky Centre was still under repairs after the flood that happened this past summer.

Joe Dicker is the AngajukKâk for the Nain Inuit Community Government.

He says Budgell’s came in to finish off the job that they left unfinished, closing off the bottom part of the lobby and painting it.

Dicker adds that the Sandbank’s Road is all complete and the only issue left was with the waterline.

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Elizabeth Penashue is an Innu Elder of Sheshashui and she’s well known and respected by many people.

It’s good to hear many elders speak about their traditions and culture, of going hunting and going out on the land.

Her big concern is the Muskrat Falls project and the Voisey’s Project affecting the environment.

She says that she’s sad and concerned that nobody talks about Voisey’s Bay and Muskrat Falls.

Tune into to Music Hour today to hear Penashue talk about her concerns.

RCMP Major Crimes is continuing its investigation into the disappearance of 47-year-old Todd Penney, missing from Happy Valley-Goose Bay since September 18.

Penney is six feet tall, weighs about 154 pounds and has short brown hair.

When last seen he was wearing a ball cap, jeans, a white hoodie and black coat.

Extensive searches conducted by ground search and rescue, an aerial drone, and the RCMP’s Police Dog Services have failed to turn up any sign of the man.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Todd Penney, or who can help police in their investigation, is asked to contact the Happy Valley-Goose Bay RCMP or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.

OK Radio contacted each of the community freezers to see what they have to offer.

In the Nain community freezer, they have char, seal, some ducks and a couple of pigeons.

In Hopedale, they have chicken legs, cod, sugar, tea, milk and flour.

In the Postville community freezer, they have bison, salmon, char and cod.

In Makkovik, they have char and scallops.

The government can’t say how many of its employees are double-vaxxed ahead of next month’s deadline to do so.

But Health Minister John Haggie says word on the street is the number is pretty high.

All public servants have until December 17 to comply with the policy, unless there’s an exemption. But Haggie says current information can’t be accessed or collected due to the October 30 cyber attack.

He says the systems have been down and the staff who collect the information have been directed to other tasks as a result of the attack. However, he says anecdotally he’s hearing the percentage of compliance was in the neighbourhood of 95 per cent before the outage.

The double-vaccination policy applies to all departments, including agencies, boards and commissions. It also applies to staff who serve vulnerable populations in long-term and personal-care homes, schools and child-care providers, staff of businesses where the VaxPass is required, as well as contractors who work with core provincial employees.

The government hasn’t said people will be terminated for not complying, but it’s believed they would initially be placed on unpaid leave.