On August 13th, Member of Parliament for Labrador, Yvonne Jones, on behalf of the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced an investment of $3.45 million for studies to confirm the new location for the Nain Airport.

The airport is critical to the Nain community as air transportation is the only means of resupply outside of the marine season.

Once relocated from its seashore location, where three of its runway edges are exposed to the sea.

The new airport will be less susceptible to the impacts of climate change, with safer operating conditions and improved access to essential goods and services for the region.

This investment is expected to have important economic, environmental, and employment benefits for the region.

It is also expected to strengthen the reliability and efficiency of the connection between Nain and southern communities.

A commission on the Ground Search and Rescue will be meeting in Makkovik after Labor Day.

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

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.

We will be speaking with Commissioner Igloliorte later in the AtjiKangitut program to find out more about the Ground Search and Rescue hearings.

Today (Monday, August 30), Newfoundland and Labrador has nine 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.

The first new case is a male in the Eastern Health region between 60-69 years of age and is a contact of a previous known case.

The second new confirmed case is a female in the Central Health region between 50-59 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

The third new confirmed case is a female in the Western Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

The fourth new confirmed case is a male in the Western Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is a contact of a previous known case.

The fifth new confirmed case is a male in the Western Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is a contact of a previous known case.

The sixth new confirmed case is a male in the Western Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is a contact of a previous known case.

The seventh new confirmed case is a male in the Western Health region between 60-69 years of age. The case is a contact of a previous known case.

The eighth new confirmed case is a male in the Western Health region between 40-49 years of age. The case is a contact of a previous known case.

The ninth new confirmed case is a female in the Western Health region under 20 years of age. The case is a contact of a previous known case.

There is a small cluster in the Western Health region. To date, there have been seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 connected to the cluster. The identified cases are isolating and Western Health is conducting contract tracing. The source of the cluster is under investigation. Unlike our outbreak in February, we now have a good proportion of our population vaccinated. This changes how we manage contacts of cases. Testing and isolation now takes the vaccination status of the contact into consideration. Anyone who is identified as a close contact of a case will be contacted by public health and given instructions specific to their vaccination status.

There are two new recoveries in the Eastern Health region and 1,443 people have recovered. There is no one in hospital due to COVID-19.

There are currently 21 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the active cases is as follows:

· Eastern Health – 7
· Central Health – 2
· Labrador-Grenfell Health – 4
· Western Health – 8

To date, 270,648 tests have been administered.

Like other Canadians, Inuit have lived through difficult and frightening times during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s challenging to describe the experiences across Inuit Nunangat – the Inuit homeland that spans Arctic and northern Canada – because provincial and territorial jurisdictions collect and publish data in different ways.

No province or territory has tracked COVID-19 cases or vaccination rates of Inuit. Instead, cases, deaths and vaccinations are tracked by location.

Non-Inuit who live in Inuit Nunangat communities are included in the data. And the growing numbers of Inuit living outside of Inuit Nunangat – thousands of people in Ottawa, Montreal, St. John’s and other urban centres – are excluded.

In Nunatsiavut, in northern Labrador, there have been no COVID cases. Nunavik in northern Quebec has seen 50, including two deaths (a rate of 355 cases per 100,000 population, versus the national Canadian rate of 3,976). In Nunavut, there have been 657 cases, and four deaths (1,694 cases per 100,000). Data are not available on the Inuvialuit region in the Northwest Territories.

COVID vaccination rates also vary – considerably – across the Inuit homeland.

In the five Inuit communities of Nunatsiavut, as of July 30, 2021, 79.5 per cent of the eligible population of 2056 have received two doses of the vaccine; 89.3 per cent have received one dose. Some Nunatsiavut communities have very high vaccination rates: in Makkovik, 86.6 per cent of its eligible population of 254 is fully vaccinated, and 97.6 per cent have had one dose.

The 3rd Annual Tom C Jararuse Dart Tournament was also an exciting event this weekend.

Here are the results:

1st place winners were Tabea Jararuse, Antuan Jacobish, Sophie Tuglavina, and Amos Jararuse, who won themselves $2,000.

2nd place winners were Jimmy Tuttauk, Teri Winters, Alan Vincent, and Jenny Winters, who won themselves $1,000.

3rd place winners were Danny Jararuse, Tabea Onalik, Lillian Semigak, and Martin Basto who won $500.

Additional prizes top tuns and top finishes male and female were Billy Jararuse and Sophie Tuglavina, who won themselves $200 each.

Skunk award in the male went to Scott Noggasak who won himself $100, and female Naomi and Jenny, who tied splitting $100.

The only 180’s throughout the tournament was Teri Winters and Justine Obed winning $180 each.

Hannah Jararuse Winter’s was one of the organizers along with Billy Jararuse, Maggie Jararuse, Mary Flowers, and Tabea Jararuse.

They would like to thank Terry’s Tents for the shirts, kamatsiatet for their generous sponsor these past 3 years, Slippers -n- Things for their trophy plates, Frank’s for food donation for their food sale, the Fire Department for fundraiser bingo, the council for using the Nanuk Centre, to all the players and anyone who helped out in anyway, and most of all, to their Crew Mary Flowers, Billy Jararuse, Maggie Jararuse, and Tabea Jararuse for all their hard work.

It was an exciting weekend here in Nain at the 11th Annual CYN and Mr. Volleyball Tournament.

Here are the results:

3rd place in the female division were Willa’s girls, and in the male division were Try Hards.

2nd place in the female division were Innuits, and in the male division were Holy Moly.

1st place in the women’s division were Mister’s Girls, in the male division were Kill Zone.

MVP in the male division went to Shanon Holwell, and MVP in the female division went to Grace Winters.

Most sportsman like player in the male division was Ian Dicker, the most sportsman in the female division was Kim Oliver, and the most sportsman like team was Willa’s Girls.

The Nain Recreation Department would like to thank those who flew or came by boat to attend this tournament and safe travels home.

They would like to thank the volunteers who reffed and being linesmen, and to all who participated in this year’s 2021 CYN & Mr. Volleyball Tournament, and to Lisetta Obed, Christian Obed and Raine Sillitt for handing out the medals.

Representatives from The Canadian Armed Forces was in Nain last week.

Mark Ritwidge is with the Fifth Canadian Patrol Group at the headquarters in Gander.

Ritwidge says that they were in Nain to meet with Sergeant Rex Holwell Senior to try and recruit new members to the Nain Canadian Rangers.

Ritwidge adds that a patrol can have up to 34 members and right now in Nain there are eleven Canadian Ranger members.

He also adds that they will be travelling to the other north coast communities after Labor Day, we will be speaking with Ritwidge later in the AtjiKangitut Program to find out more.

Today (Friday, August 27), Newfoundland and Labrador has seven 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.

The first new confirmed case is a male in the Eastern Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

The second new confirmed case is a female in the Eastern Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

The third new confirmed case is a male in the Central Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

The fourth new confirmed case is a male in the Western Health region between 20-39 years of age. The case is under investigation.

The fifth new confirmed case is a female in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region between 50-59 years of age. The case is a close contact of a previous known case.

The sixth new confirmed case is a female in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region under 20 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

The seventh new confirmed case is a female in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region under 20 years of age. The case is related to travel within Canada.

There are six new recoveries in the Eastern Health region and 1,441 people have recovered. There is no one in hospital due to COVID-19.

The presumptive positive case reported Wednesday, August 25 in the Labrador-Grenfell Health region has now been confirmed positive and is included in the province’s total active case count.

There are currently 14 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. The regional breakdown of the active cases is as follows:

· Eastern Health – 8
· Central Health – 1
· Labrador-Grenfell Health – 4
· Western Health – 1

To date, 269,142 tests have been administered.

EA Sports officially announced NHL 22 game on Thursday, August 12 that the latest edition will be out on Friday, October 15, 2021.

NHL 22 will release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox series and Xbox 1.

This is the first game in the series for the latest console variations.

Austin Matthews will return to the cover on NHL 22 after previously doing so on NHL 20.

Matthews follows in the footsteps of NHL 21 cover athlete Alec Ovechkin, previously making it on the cover in NHL 07.

The latest edition of the series is set to released Friday, October 15, 2021.

The 3rd Annual Tom C Jararuse Memorial Dart Tournament is still going ahead this evening in Hopedale.

The dates are set for August 27 and 28, 2021, and will take place at the Nanuk Center.

The prize for 1st place will be $2000, 2nd prize $1000, and the 3rd prize $500, along with hoodies, t-shirts, and long sleeve shirts and a trophy.

There are 19 teams registered for the tournament.

For more information you can contact Mary Flowers, Hannah Jararuse Winters, (Hannah 933-3476) Billy Jararuse, and Maggie Jararuse and Tabea Jararuse.