The Nain Moravian Church will be celebrating its annual anniversary next week on Tuesday, February 19, 2019.

This year marks the 248 years of the Nain Moravian Church.

This is when some the town businesses are off work for this special day, and OKalaKatiget Society is one of those.

So, today Ok radio will be re-airing an interview which done on Tuesday, February 18 of 2014.

At that year the Nain Moravian Church was celebrating its 243rd Anniversary.

We will be speaking with Gordon Obed a chapel servant at that time.

He will explain how this was all started and still continue to this day.

To hear Obed talk more, click here.

There have been quite a few women who got a chance to harvest they’re first polar bear.

Eva Obed of Nain was one of those.

She got the use of her polar bear license on February 4 this year.

Obed says the first day they went out to Skull Island and saw 3 polar bears.

But she didn’t get her bear that day.

She says next day they went out again around the same area where they saw them day before.

So they headed out to another island what is called Barham Island and that’s where she got her first polar bear.

To hear Eva Obed talk about her hunting trip and her bear, here.

Conservation officials are trying to figure out how to reverse declining caribou numbers in Labrador.

Without impeding Indigenous food supplies and they say the next step could be listing the Caribou species on the federal Species at Risk Act.

We spoke with Paul Macdonald who is the Wildlife Biologist.

Macdonald says caribou consultations meetings were held in Happy Valley Goose Bay, North West River, Rigolet and Postville last year.

But due to poor weather conditions they had to postpone some communities, but they will be making their way to Makkovik, Nain and Hopedale this month.

He says they plan to visit and hold meetings in Natuashish and Sheshatshiu also but the dates are yet to be determined.

In recent years, the George River and Torngat herds have shrunk to very low levels, and this year will mark six years the province brought in a ban on hunting the animals in Labrador.

To find out more about these consultation meetings, click here

The Nunatsiavut Assembly today voted to remove the Ordinary member for Hopedale, Rachel Saunders from office for refusing to adhere to penalties imposed on her for several breaches of the Nunatsiavut Code of Conduct Act.

An ad hoc disciplinary committee of the assembly imposed the penalties in November of last year.

In January the assembly voted to suspend Ms.Saunders from her position for failing to comply with the penalties.

Notice was given that if she did not comply by the March sitting, a motion to have her removed as ordinary member would be brought to the assembly.

The code of conduct is an Inuit law that applies to elected officials, with the expectation the leaders and representatives of the Inuit will lead lives deserving of respect, give guidance, act wisely and fairly and be respectable and considerate of all people.

The expectation is that elected officials will be leaders who will set a good example by their own behavior and will not engage in personal conduct that brings discredit to their offices.

A day for a by election to fill the vacant seat has yet to be determined.

The annual Heritage Dog Race will be going ahead this year in Makkovik.

This annual race will be held on Saturday March 30th.

And the committee members are planning to hold an online auction to help raise funds for this event.

If anyone would like to help with any money donations please contact Rachel Edmunds, Kerry Mitchell, Simon Kohlmeister, and Lindsay Andersen.

We will have another update once available.

The 17th Annual Bernard and Jeffery Memorial hockey tournament went really well this weekend.

Megan Webb was one of organizers for this event.

She says it was a good turnout and she would like to thank everyone who helped in any way.

To hear Webb on the B and J tournament, click here.

It will be Pancake Day tomorrow across Canada.

The Nunatsiavut Government Department of Health and Social Development office will be holding a pancake breakfast tomorrow March 5 2019.

We spoke with Susan Saksagiak, who is the Mental Health and Addiction worker for Department of Health and Social Development office in Nain.

She says the breakfast starts at 8:30 at the Department of Health and Social Development building multipurpose room.

Saksagiak says they will offer rides for seniors and if anyone would like to be picked up, you can call their office at 922-2126.

To hear more of the Pancake breakfast in Nain tomorrow, click here.

Staff from the Environment climate change Canadian wildlife services will be traveling to the north coast communities this month.

They will be holding Caribou Consultation Meetings in Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik North West River, Sheshatshiu and Natuashish.

They will be speaking with all Nunatsiavut community members to discuss the proposed listing of the Torngat mountains caribou population and the Eastern migratory caribou population, which also includes the George River herd as an endangered species.

The committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada recently assessed each population as endangered, and the federal government is considering adding these populations to the list of at risk species under the federal species at risk act, or also known as ‘SARA’.

The meetings will be a space to share information and knowledge about caribou, as well as learn about the species at risk act, and what would happen if the caribou populations are listed.

Before Christmas, Canadian wildlife service biologists visited Rigolet, Postville and Goose bay to talk with Nunatsiavut members.

Over the next week they will be visiting Makkovik on March 6 at the Community Hall starting at 6pm and in Nain on March 11 at the Nunatsiavut Government boardroom and in Hopedale on March 13 at the Nunatsiavut Government building, courtroom.

A Happy Valley Goose Bay mall was engulfed in flames Sunday evening.

The Hamilton River Road Mall had several stores such as Reitman’s clothing store, Legrows travel agency and an Eclipse clothing store.

The mall was located next to the Woodward’s C-Store and Gas Station, which was a scary cause of concern for the local fire crew members.

The 5 Wing Firefighters joined the local fire department to help with services.

Traffic was backed up on the Hamilton River Road for two hours, but thankfully nobody was hurt in the fire and No injuries were reported by the town’s fire chief.

Two water pumpers from the local fire department were on site to help out, while a truck from 5 Wing Goose Bay kept an eye on the fuel pumps.

The call about the fire came in to the department at exactly 5:02 p.m.

And as of 7 p.m. the flames were under control, but crews were still on site dousing the smoking structure.

The HVGB Salvation Army came out to support the fire fighters that battled the fire in -15° weather.

At least four major commercial fires have destroyed businesses in the town of HVGB in the past six months.

In September2018, the North Mart grocery store, the Cozy Corner restaurant and the Fillatre Funeral Home were all badly damaged by fires.

Story Courtesy of The Labradorian

The traditional young women’s day is coming up this Wednesday March 6, 2019.

OK radio spoke with Silpa Suarak who is the captain for young women’s day.

Suarak says there are sixteen girls who will be having their young women’s day and nine of those girls, who will be having their first young women’s day.

Their cook will be Mae Flowers and Margaret Metcalfe is the cook’s helper. Their helpers will be Abele Ikkusek and Joshua Jack.

Suarak says they recently had a donation of eight hundred dollars from the Nigivik Centre for the food and they will be going around to the stores to get a few more items needed.

Suarak also says they could not find any big space close to the moravian church to celebrate the young women’s day so they will be celebrating up to the Jeremias Sillett community centre.

There will be another meeting for the girl’s today March 4 2019 at 4pm at the Nunatsiavut government building.