This week is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder week that started on Monday, September 6th until the 10th.

Vyann Andersen Goudie is the Mental Health and Addictions worker for the Department of Health and Social Development in Postville.

She says they will be delivering supper to seniors this evening starting at 4:30, and this is for elders 75 years and older, widows and widowers.

Andersen Goudie adds that they will be hosting a drive through breakfast tomorrow starting at 8am. This will include a package with information, yogurt, juice and a bacon egger.

She adds that they only have a limited amount for tomorrows drive through.

There will also be a suicide awareness walk on Friday starting at the ball field at 5pm, and at 5:30 there will be supper served with chili and hotdogs.

There will be a prize giveaway of a firepit for anyone who answer a quiz, and participants are asked to drop off completed quizzes to the Sheppard’s Variety Store.

Andersen Goudie is hopeful that the weather will cooperate, and if not, supper will be served indoors, but the suicide prevention walk will still go ahead despite the weather.

The fish counting at English River near Postville is ongoing, maybe until early October.

Todd Broomfield is the Director of Renewable Resources for Nunatsiavut Government.

He says as of Sunday, September 5, the crew had counted 444 small salmon and 115 large salmon, for a total 559 salmon, and small char 2,215 and 1,120 large, totals 3,335 char and 33 lake trout.

Broomfield added the crew also had one pink salmon, which is an endangered species, and they had sent the sample to DFO and they kept it. The pink salmon is starting to show up in Nunatsiavut, and there was one caught in Upper Lake Melville, and another in OkKak or Saglek this summer.

Next update will be given again in couple of weeks.

This is the second day for the Ground Search and Rescue Hearings in Makkovik.

Jim Igloliorte is the commissioner for the inquiry, he says that they were hearing evidence yesterday from the ground search and rescue team about the event that happened in 2012 with the search of Burton Winters.

Yesterday they also heard from the lawyers and a statement from the family of late Burton Winters.

This morning and today they are hearing from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and getting their side of the story.

We will be getting an update from Commissioner Igloliorte once he becomes available sometime this week.

In the meantime, anyone can listen to the hearings daily, through a link.

And here is the link: www.nlgsarinquiry.ca/roundtable-consultation.

The Canada Elections Act states that a general election shall be held on the third Monday of October every four years. However, the Act does not prevent a general election from being held on another date.

By law, election day must be at least 36 days and no more than 50 days after the day when an election is called.

A general federal election has been called and will be held on September 20th, 2021.

Click here to hear from a Conservative candidate for Labrador, Shane Dumaresque to hear his campaign.

The eastern portion of the Great Northern Peninsula has shifted back to Alert Level 3 thanks to a cluster of cases of the Delta variant in the area.

There are five new confirmed cases of the virus reported today, all in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region, and all over the age of 40. Four of the cases are related to previously known cases while one of the cases is under investigation.

There are seven new presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 in the province, including two in the Western Health region and five in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region.

One person is in hospital, for a total of 35 active confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says there are eight cases linked to the COVID cluster on the Northern Peninsula prompting a recommendation to delay the opening of three schools in the region to allow for contact tracing. That includes Cloud River Academy in Roddickton, HG Fillier Academy in Englee, and Mary Simms All Grade in Main Brook.

A number of towns have also been moved back to Alert Level 3 because of community spread of the “highly infectious Delta variant” and a low vaccination rate in the region. That means masks will have to be worn indoors. The towns and communities include Roddickton-Bide Arm, Conche, Croque, Englee, St. Julien’s, and Main Brook.

Representatives from the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community living in partnership with GovNL held a community session in Nain last evening.

Fraser Picket and Dolores Flynn made presentations at the Illusuak Cultural Center about Supported Living, Supported Employment, the Provincial Incentive Program and Registered Disability Savings Plan.

Flynn has been with NFLD and Labrador Association for 35 years.

Flynn says that they advocate for persons with disabilities to be included and transparent within their community.

There are programs and services that people with disabilities within the province that they can take advantage of and the organization can advocate for you.

Flynn and Picket will be travelling to Hopedale and Makkovik this week to inform residents of the work that they do.

We will be speaking with Flynn and Picket sometime in the near future.

All regulated child care operators can return to normal operations on Wednesday.

To coincide with the return of K-12 classes, the Department of Education says the COVID-19 Child Care Operations Policy is no longer in effect as of September 8.

This means that restrictions on the number of parents that can enter the child care service at one time during drop off or pick up can be removed at the discretion of the service.

As well, staff restrictions on moving between homerooms or services are removed, and field trips are permitted. Masks are not required but are recommended.

Self-screening and regular handwashing or use of hand sanitizer are still required.

Teachers and staff are back in the classrooms today but the student population doesn’t arrive until tomorrow.

Unlike the rest of the Atlantic provinces, masks are not mandatory in our schools. In-person learning was interrupted mid-winter for a couple of months so education officials are hoping to get through the year without having to re-set, however Minister Tom Osbourne says they can pivot if necessary.

Government is spending about $8-million on portable ventilation equipment for the classrooms, a move with which teachers concur. NLTA President Trent Langdon says ventilation has been an issue for years and they’re just happy to see improvements.

Langdon says all they want is for it to move as quickly as possible.

The Pigutsavik Daycare registration in Nain will be tomorrow, Wednesday, September 8 at 5 pm.

Please have your child’s non expired MCP, Nunatsiavut beneficiary card and immunization record.

There are 10 spaces in the toddler room (2 yrs.) and 16 spaces (3-5 yrs.) in the preschool room.

The Language Nest will also hold their registration as well, please state in a letter why you would like your child enrolled in the program. This is for infants 3months to 24 months.

If you have any questions, you can call the centre at 922-1330/1335, or email Lorraine Dicker at lorraine.dicker@nunatsiavut.com.

She will be the acting operator until Melissa returns.

A commission on the Ground Search and Rescue is meeting in Makkovik this week.

Commissioner James Igloliorte says that there are approximately 14 people attending the hearings along with the Winters family from Nain.

Igloliorte says that this morning they heard from witnesses from the ground search and rescue team that searched for Burton Winters back in 2012.

Commissioner Igloliorte says that the hearings will be to hear from the public about how the ground search and rescue work, what works, what doesn’t, and previous search and rescue activities in the province.

He adds that they will be travelling to Hopedale after they’ve been in Makkovik.

To find out more about what events took place this morning, click here.