It was an historic day for the five Nunatsiavut Communities last week when the towns were getting their very first COVID-19 Moderna vaccine shots.

The Staff of the Department of Health and Social Development, along with Nunatsiavut Government and Labrador Grenfell Health came together to administer the vaccine to people that started on Monday, January 11, 2021.

The historic day for the residents of Nain was last Friday, January 15th and continued to Saturday, January 16th.

Joanne Pye is the Public Health Nurse in Nain for DHSD.

She says it was a good turnout and a lot of support came from the staff.

Stay tuned to our Atjikangitut show today to find out more from Nurse Pye.

Today (Monday, January 18), Newfoundland and Labrador has no new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The province has six active cases.

There have been no new recoveries since yesterday. Three hundred and eighty-three people have recovered from the virus.

One person is in hospital due to the virus.

To date, 76,492 people have been tested.

Public Health is reminding people to strictly adhere to the orders of the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

People must remain vigilant and follow all Public Health measures to protect themselves, their families, and their communities from the spread of COVID-19.

Public Health is reminding people about the phrase People, Space, Time, and Place. People should always consider these four important reminders.

Brenda Jararuse and a few more volunteers are in the plans for a Thrift Shop for Nain.

She says that first they will see if there is interest in the community and if there will be enough storage space and a location for this initiative.

Tune into our Labrador Memories show at 3 to hear more on the plans on the thrift shop for Nain.

The Department of Language & Culture with the Nunatsiavut Government will be holding a Terminology workshop in Nain from February 9th to the 11th, 2021.

Robyn Martin is the Language Program Coordinator and she says that there were 23 invitations sent out for participants to attend the workshop.

Isumatât are the facilitators of the workshop and this year’s focus will be for older Inuttitut terms.

These could be terms that were used years ago and that are not commonly used anymore and they will be documented to preserve.

Martin adds that there will be participants from Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, North West River, a participant from the Canadian Constituent and a representative from Inuit Tapiriit Kanadami.

If you have any terms you would like to share you many contact Robyn Martin at 709-922-2051.

OKâlaKatiget contacted most of the communities for an update on the ice conditions along the coast.

In Nain, Sid Pain is with Ground Search and Rescue he says that with the continued warm temperatures, ice conditions along normal routes of travel north and south of Nain have many unsafe areas of new ice, thin ice, and holes, including along the regular trail between Nain and Natuashish.

He adds that travelling on the ice should still be done with extreme caution, take the time to test the thickness of the ice along your route, don’t think the ice is safe just because there is a track on it.

Barry Andersen is the AngajukKâk for Makkovik.

He says the Makkovik harbour ice is good right now, however, there is open water from Indian Head across to White Point, and from there, northwards is all open water.

At Makkovik Bay from Grassy Point up to the bottom of Makkovik Bay is all safe ice and from Grassy point northwards is open water.

Andersen adds that the lakes and ponds ice are all safe but use caution as there may be slob on ponds.

David Wolfrey is the Conservation Officer for Rigolet.

He says the ice is just starting to form now this passed week, people getting to their cabins, never had much ice due to warm weather, just starting to get enough ice to travel between Rigolet and North West River.

Here’s the year end review for November 2020:

On Nov 2, a test determined a false positive COVID-19 Case in Voisey’s Bay Mine Site, the case turned out to be negative after the second test was done.

Nov 3, the Community Enhancement Programs were underway in Nain and Makkovik for people who needed more hours to qualify for their EI.

The Daycares in Rigolet, Makkovik and Hopedale re-opened August 29, but had to make some changes in their programs due to COVID-19, the Nain daycare Pigutsavik opened its doors on Oct 13, after the staff finished their Early Childhood Education Certificate courses on Oct 9, the staff also had to make changes in the programs.

Nov 4, an unexpected earthquake happened in Makkovik in the early hours, the residents were awakened by a loud sound, which shook the land and homes. Stephen Halchuck the Seismologist for Canadian hazards Information Services reported not one but two earthquakes were reported within 20 km range.

Nov 5, for the annual Guy Fawk’s night, people were reminded to keep safety top of their mind and check with local fire departments and municipalities due to the pandemic and restricted gatherings.

Nov 6, the annual moose hunt was another success at Gross Morne for NG, with 30 licenses bagged.

A virtual Cross Country Running took place from the schools in Nain, Natuashish, Hopedale, Makkovik, Rigolet, North West River and Goose Bay.

Nov 11, The world awaited a reliable vaccine for the novel Corona Virus.

Also Founder of Newfoundcare, a company dive deeper into the issue of bullying and how rampart the problem is in the province.

NG looks forward to a new relationship with Government of NL following a meeting in Nain with Premier, Andrew Furey.

And the Atlantic Canada Airports Association called the region Premiers to implement arrival testing protocols for domestic passengers to help ease quarantine times for everyone moving through the region by air.

And Remembrance Day Assembly Ceremonies were cancelled for all NL Schools but each class held their own one virtually.

Nov 12, Huge donations from the Single Parents Association arrived to Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik and Rigolet from St. John’s.

The 36th Annual RCMP Volleyball Tournament was announced and will go ahead, but it will only have the residents to participate due to COVID-19 on Nov 19 at 4pm.

Nov 13, Government of Canada invests new building freight storages for the North Coast Communities.

Nov 16, The province announced travel will not be expanded for Christmas while families await to hear word on travels.

Nov 17, Programs at the Aboriginal Family Friendship Centre, First Light in St. John’s was going well after they closed down due to COVID-19.

The Makkovik Moravian Church Ladies Sewing Circle Christmas sale was cancelled, so all their handcrafts were donated to Carol Gear’s on line Auction for Nov 18-25th.

Nov 19, Daffodil Place, the home away from home for cancer patients held a Radiothon to raise funds to operate.

And the price’s of fuel was frozen for the north coast of Labrador, Nunatsiavut.

Nov 26, TRHA continues construction on new homes and repairs and waited for cupboards to arrive on the Kamutik W. Two more earthquakes were reported 6 km Northeast of Makkovik, the first was a magnitude of 3.7 before 4am, and 3.5 magnitude few minutes later 4 km away.

Nov 27, big changes was announced for the Annual Moravian Churches Candle Light Services and Watchnight services to be done virtually due to the pandemic.

Nunatsiavut President Johannes Lampe thanks those involved in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine and thank those who were instrumental in rolling out the first round of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to all Labrador Inuit communities over the past week:

These are unprecedented and historic times, as we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The arrival of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to our communities last week, in many ways, represents a new era of hope.

There were so many people involved in distributing the vaccine to our communities that deserve to be recognized.

Stay tuned to our AtjiKangitut show today to hear Lampe’s audio from Friday.

Member of the House of Assembly for the Torngat Mountains District Lela Evans and Opposition Leader Ches Crosbie was in Nain this past week.

MHA Evans says this trip was scheduled for the fall to meet with the Nunatsiavut Government and the Nain Inuit Community Government but had to be delayed for several reasons.

Evan’s says they also met with residents and local businesses to hear their concerns with the issues that they are dealing with.

They have had great feedback from the community, and she says she will be travelling to Hopedale on Sunday, January 17th, 2021.

We will be speaking with MHA Evan’s on our Sunday Program to find out more about her and Crosbie’s trip.

On Monday, January 18th, 2021 Nunavut Independent Television (NITV) will make history when it launches Canada’s first all-Inuit Inuktitut TV Channel.

Uvagut TV will be broadcasting 168 hours a week of Inuit produced culture, arts, movies and information to more than 610 thousand Shaw Direct customers.

The Inuk Channel will be to provide programs to preserve promote and revitalize Inuit culture and languages nationally.

Lucy Tulugarjuk is the Chair and Executive Director for NITV, she says “For Me, Uvagut TV is a dream come true – to see Inuit culture and to hear our language full time on TV.”

Hopedale and Postville were the third Nunatsiavut town’s to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots couple of days ago.

Kimberly Dicker is the Public Health Nurse in Hopedale.

She says they had a really good response from the residents a couple of evenings ago.

The clinic opened from 6 pm till 8:30, and a little over a hundred people came for their vaccine shot. An elder, Katie Pijogge was the first person to get the shot.

Dicker says they continued yesterday morning administering the vaccine to more people.

She says some of the people had concerns whether they should have the shot, and some asked how things went with the other communities, and some was positive about getting the first vaccine.

Meanwhile yesterday was also an exciting day in Postville.

Tyler Edmunds is the First Minister of NG.

He too said, “I think there were some concerns circulating and most people recognized that these vaccines have gone through approval processes and testing procedures and is safe.”

Edmunds says the people there are looking forward for the second dose in a few weeks. Ruth Jacque was the first to get the vaccine shot and the eldest to receive his shot was Joe Edmunds.

Stay tuned to AtjiKangitut today to hear Dicker and Edmunds give you more information about the historic day in their towns.