The Jens Haven Memorial School would like to inform Parents/Guardians, Students and Staff that this Wednesday, November 25th they are participating in an Indigenous initiative called “Rock Your Mocs”.

Established in 2011, “Rock Your Mocs” is a worldwide Native American and Indigenous Peoples social media event held annually in November.

They will be taking photos (of footwear only), adding the hashtag #RockYourMocs and uploading to social media.

This creates an online photo album for the world to see and enjoy.

JHM School would love to see the staff and students support this initiative by wearing their traditional footwear (whether it is moccasins, slippers, skin boots, etc.).

Thank you for your support!

(Thanks to the JHMS Cultural Committee for organizing this event.)

The TaKuaKautik Food Bank Committee is getting ready for the next giveaway this week.

Brenda Jararuse is the Director of Culture with the Nunatsiavut Government.

They now have enough on the committee and no longer need more volunteers, but they do need people to help with getting freight from the Kamutik W.

They are trying to get freight either today or tomorrow, they have a total of seven freight down to the dock.

The next giveaway will be this Thursday, November 26th.

Today, Tuesday, November 24, Newfoundland and Labrador has two new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The first new confirmed case is a female in the Eastern Health region between 60-69 years of age. The individual, a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, is a close contact of a previous known case.

The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is completed.

The second new confirmed case is a female in the Eastern Health region over 70 years of age. The individual, a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, is a close contact of a previous known case.

This case is connected to the recent cluster in Grand Bank. The individual is not a tenant of Blue Crest Cottages in Grand Bank.

The individual is self-isolating. Contact tracing by Public Health officials is completed.

While these two cases are both in the Eastern Health region, they are not connected to each other.

Newfoundland and Labrador has 24 active cases of COVID-19. No one is in hospital due to the virus. There has been a recovery in the Western Health region. This means 295 people have recovered from the virus. To date, 59,741 people have been tested.

For the most up-to-date information related to COVID-19, please visit: www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19.

The third Annual Gussie Bennett Ball Hockey Tournament will be going ahead this year, but it will be slightly different due to COVID-19.

William Flowers is the organizer of the tournament.

The Adult Division and the Minor Division will have different dates since the Public Health guidelines.

The Adults division will play from December 4th until December 6th.

The Minor Division will play the week after from December 11th to December 13th.

The registration fee is $10 a player.

There are awards such as the most sports-minded male and sports-minded female, the Male MVP and Female MVP, Best Goaltender and more.

The awards ceremony will be set to a different date and it have not been set as of yet.

Flowers hopes that there will be as much people as possible and hope everyone who will play is going to enjoy it.

The Department of Health and Community Services is asking passengers who travelled on Air Canada Flight 8880 from Halifax to Deer Lake who arrived on Thursday, November 19 to call 811 to arrange for COVID-19 testing.

Public Health is making this ask out of abundance of caution because of confirmed case of COVID-19 in the Western Health region that was announced on Sunday, November 22.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include:
Fever or signs of fever including chills, sweats, muscle aches, light-headedness, cough, headache, sore throat, painful swallowing, runny nose, diarrhea, loss of smell or taste, unexplained loss of appetite or small red or purple spots on the hand or the feet.

Even if someone receives a negative test result, Public Health is encouraging all passengers to continue monitoring themselves for symptoms for a full 14 days from the time of their arrival in the province.

For the most up-to-date information related to COVID-19, please visit: www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19.

Nunatsiavut President Johannes Lampe was notified late Friday afternoon that Mr. Edward Blake Rudkowski had been removed from the Labrador Inuit Enrollment Register, following a review of his membership. At the time, Mr. Blake Rudkowski was an Ordinary Member of the Nunatsiavut Assembly representing the Constituency of Canada. He was also the Speaker of the Nunatsiavut Assembly.

As a result, President Lampe contacted Mr. Blake Rudkowski and advised him that he could no longer hold his seat in the Nunatsiavut Assembly. Consequently, his seat has been declared vacant.

Part 4.3.1 of the Labrador Inuit Constitution states that only Labrador Inuit (which means Beneficiaries of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement) may be members of the Nunatsiavut Assembly. As well, Part 4.3.3 of the Labrador Inuit Constitution states that an individual automatically loses membership in the Nunatsiavut Assembly if he/she ceases to be eligible. A similar provision exists in section 14 of the Nunatsiavut Assembly Act.

First Minister Tyler Edmunds reminds Beneficiaries of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement that the Nunatsiavut Government plays no role whatsoever in determining the membership of any individual. The Beneficiary enrollment process is independent from the Nunatsiavut Government.

A date for a by-election to fill the vacant seat in the Canadian Constituency has yet to be set.

Nain DHSD has activities on the go for our residents.

Elsie Russell is the Mental Health and Addictions Counsellor.

She says one of their activities is called, “Change begins with me” where people can post about some changes that they are making.

Another activity that will start up again is the Paint Night.

So, anyone wanting to sign up to any of her activities can call her at 922-2126.

And please remember that due to COVID-19 restrictions, they will cut down the numbers of people who can attend the activities.

Stay tuned to AtjiKangitut today to hear more from Russell at the Nain DHSD.

OK Radio contacted the Makkovik and Hopedale Inuit Community Governments to see what they have on the go.

Marjorie Flowers is the AngajukKâk for the Hopedale ICG.

She says due to COVID-19 restrictions, the volunteering to open up the gym after hours is gonna be closed until further notice.

The Community Enhancement Employment program will not be going ahead again this year where they didn’t get the funding.

Flowers adds that where they are cautious about the restrictions due to COVID-19, they won’t be having any Christmas parties this year.

Any other activities will be held virtually.

We also spoke with Barry Andersen who is the AngajukKâk for the Makkovik ICG.

He says they started off with 6 people for the Community Enhancement Program and is down to 1.

With the new sub-division, Andersen says their contractors are gone home for the winter and should be back in June to finish off the work that started this year.

Andersen also says that they applied for a temporary morgue; it’s a brand new c-can morgue that has air conditioning to keep cool in the summer and has heaters for the winter.

He adds that not all communities have one along the coast and is the first one to have in Makkovik.

Other than that, they have char in the freezer if anyone wanted to pick some up.

OK Radio will have more updates on the Nain, Postville and Rigolet ICG’s once they become available.

The staff and students at Jens Haven Memorial School are getting their school pictures done today.

The school would like to inform parents and guardians that the photographer will be doing the school photographs today which began this morning.

The photographer, Don Mews, would like to inform students and staff to not to wear any green clothing items for their class pictures.

Photographs are being done in the JHMS 4-12 library.

And the Grad class students of 2020-2021 will be having their grad pictures done this afternoon.

If any parent or guardian would like to know more information please call the school at 922-2813.

The province has announced two new cases of COVID-19.

One of these cases is the first child diagnosed with COVID-19 in N.L. who is attending school.

Both cases are located in the Western Health region.

Today, Monday, November 23rd, Newfoundland and Labrador has reported two new cases of COVID-19.

The first case is a female under 19 years of age, located in the Western Health region. She is a contact of a previously reported case. She is a student at the elementary school in Deer Lake.

Testing has been arranged for those impacted, and students of this particular class are self-isolating.

The second case is a male between the ages of 20-29, located in the Western Health region.

The case is travel-related from Manitoba.