Effective Friday, October 22, the Government of NL requires that residents who wish to enter public places to provide Vaccine Passports showing proof of their Vaccination Record.

The passport must scan green to show that the resident meets vaccine requirements.

Residents over the age of 18 years must provide vaccine passports to access any recreation programs including buying bingo cards.

If you need assistance accessing your vaccine passport, feel free to call the Nain Inuit Community Government Office during regular business hours at 922-2842.

The Hebron Restoration Project has been an ongoing since this past summer.

Jillian Larkham is the Director of Tourism for the Nunatsiavut Government.

She says they contracted Greens Constructions to work on the four porches of the church in Hebron.

Larkham adds that they had Archeologist from Nunatsiavut Government, Lena Onalik along with four bear guards working up there.

Click here to find out more.

Today, Friday, October 15, Newfoundland and Labrador has four new confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last public advisory. Contact tracing by Public Health is underway and anyone considered a close contact has been advised regarding quarantine according to current guidelines.

In the Eastern Health region:
· One between 20-39 years of age; and
· One between 50-59 years of age.

Both cases are female. One is related to international travel and one is under investigation.

In the Central Health region:
· One between 40-49 years of age.

The case is a female and is under investigation.

In the Western Health region:
· One between 50-59 years of age.

The case is a male and is related to travel within Canada.

There have been 11 new recoveries, three in the Eastern Health region and eight in the Central Health region and 1,808 people have recovered. There are nine people in hospital because of COVID-19, five in non-critical care and four in critical care. There are no new presumptive positive cases in the province.

There are currently 53 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

To date, 321,484 tests have been administered

All members of the public service in Newfoundland and Labrador will have to be vaccinated by December 17.

Premier Andrew Furey made the announcement at a briefing this afternoon.

Deputy Premier Siohan Coady says the policy applies to all public service employees, core government departments and agencies, boards and commissions.

Anyone not fully vaccinated will have to have a medical exemption.

All new hires after Dec. 17 will have to be fully vaccinated before their government start date.

The policy will also apply to contractors, vendors and volunteers who are in the presence of the public service.

Some examples of places where employees and volunteers would come together are fire departments, long-term care homes and regulated childcare facilities.

MusicNL has officially announced the nominees for it’s awards during Music Celebrations Week 2021.

It’s a banner year for nominations.

According to MusicNL they received 140 applications, surpassing the total from the previous year.

Nominees from a total of 29 categories were announced, with Keely McMichael leading the pack with 5 nominees, followed by Caroline East, Olfa Harmony and Quote the Raven with four nominees each.

Rachael Cousins is up for three awards (Pop Artist/Group of the Year, Solo Artist of the Year and Fans Choice Entertainer of the Year.)

She says the last year and a half with the pandemic has been a struggle for musicians but being nominated provides a level of validation for the hardship.

She describes it as a sign that all the hard work has paid off and the music industry here is like a family.

And VOCM received nods in several categories.

VOCM has been nominated for Outstanding Media Company of the Year, the Happy at Home VOCM Cares Virtual Happy Tree Concert is in the running for Event of the Year. And Program Director, Greg Smith has been nominated in two categories – Media Person of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.

Chris Batstone with VOCM’ sister station K-Rock has also been nominated in the Media Person of the Year.

Last year the Nain Moravian Church Choir and Brassband was nominated and received a plaque. Thank you MusicNL.

Seeing the name Mary Brown’s in lights is a familiar sight across the province, but soon, it will be on a much larger scale.

Mary Brown’s Chicken has assumed naming rights to the former Mile One Centre in St. John’s.

The venue is being rebranded as the Mary Brown’s Centre with a 45-foot sign across the front of the building in the works.

Mary Brown’s will also be sponsorship partner to the local sports teams that play in the venue.

The brand was founded in St. John’s in 1969 and features its colorful row houses inside locations across Canada as a tribute.

Greg Roberts, CEO of the company says having their name on a facility that brings first-class talent, sports and entertainment to Newfoundlanders is a pleasure.

They have 200 stores nationally and continue to grow.

Mary Brown’s officially begins the rebrand of the Mary Brown’s Centre on November 5th. Plans to open chicken express location in the Mary Brown’s Centre will be included.

Seal skin cleaning was being taught at the Youth Centre here in Nain.

Crystal Allen-Webb is the Youth Outreach Worker.

She says Maria Merkuratsuk, Heather Angnatok and Kristie Maggo were the cleaners of the seal skin.

There were also a group of Grade 4’s and some youth who showed up.

Allen-Webb adds that Ethan Angnatok will be at the Youth Centre today at 3pm to make some smoothies.

Anyone between the ages of 13 to 30 are welcome.

The Fall Sportsmeet is going ahead in Makkovik this year.

Dion Rideout is the principal for the J.C. Erhardt Memorial School.

He says the Jens Haven Memorial School students from Nain and the Northern Lights Academy students from Rigolet did not make it due to the weather.

There has been a lot of changes to the schedule and might have to go ahead with the sports meet if Nain and Rigolet can’t make it.

So far, the athletes competed in table tennis, volleyball and archery.

The running scheduled for today might be postponed to tomorrow, depending on the weather.

There will also be a drone to take pictures of the athletes doing the running.

Rideout adds that the athletes will play some Inuit games, volleyball and more games to wait for the schools of Nain and Rigolet.

OK Radio will have more updates on the Fall Sportsmeet once it becomes available.

The Nain Inuit Community Government has put out a public notice yesterday for the safety of the Jens Haven Memorial School students.

Joe Dicker is the AngajukKâk for Nain.

He says starting Monday, October 18th, there will be a one-way traffic zone to pick up the students at the school.

Click here to hear more of what Dicker got to say.

Today, Thursday, October 14, Newfoundland and Labrador has four new confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last public advisory.

The new cases are in the Central Health region:

· Two between 50-59 years of age; and
· Two between 60-69 years of age.

There are two females and two males and all cases are under investigation.

Contact tracing by Public Health is underway and anyone considered a close contact has been advised regarding quarantine according to current guidelines.

There have been six new recoveries, three in the Eastern Health region, two in the Central Health region and one in the Western Health region and 1,797 people have recovered.

There are 11 people in hospital because of COVID-19, seven in non-critical care and four in critical care. There are no new presumptive positive cases in the province.

There are currently 60 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the active cases is as follows:

· Eastern Health – 16
· Central Health – 43
· Labrador-Grenfell Health – 1
· Western Health – 0

To date, 320,432 tests have been administered.