The Torngat Minor Hockey attended their banquet in Nain last evening at 5pm.

William Flowers is the coach with Brent Denniston assisting.

There were many players happy to get a supper of Mary Browns that was ordered from Goose Bay.

Flowers said it was Caleb Dyson’s and Tristen Denniston’s last year with the minor players.

He added that Dyson was always the first player to show up at the arena.

Flowers said Dyson volunteered as goalie for the younger hockey players at each game and he thanks him for that, the boys will miss him.

Good luck in your future endeavors Caleb!, he added.

The Cain’s Quest board and organizing committee released a statement in early March regarding the cancellation of this year’s race.

Due to the weather conditions, and in the interest of safety, all race activities were ceased, effective immediately.

The Board of Directors has announced that the next race will take place in 2024, and registration is now open to take part in the Endurance Snowmobile Race in Labrador.

The date to register opened on Sunday, April 30 of this year.

There will be more details at a later date when they are available.

Vale Base Metals, a leading supplier of energy transition metals nickel, copper and cobalt, today announced that two of its Canadian mines have been recognized for excellence in safety by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

Vale’s Voisey’s Bay Mine in Newfoundland & Labrador was awarded the national John T. Ryan Trophy for 2022 in the Select Mines category for its outstanding safety record, while the Coleman Mine in Ontario received the regional John T. Ryan Trophy in the metal mine category.

“This is a well-deserved recognition for every employee in both mines, who work each day to ensure they, and their colleagues go home to their loved ones,” said Alfredo Santana, Chief Operating Officer for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations. “The safety culture demonstrated by the team’s commitment to actively identifying and managing risks in the workplace with potential to cause harm, reinforces that our employees are living Vale’s behavior of being obsessed with safety and risk management.”

These awards, presented at the CIM’s award gala in Montreal, recognize mines in three categories: Metal Mine, Coal Mine and Select Mine, which includes open pit mining. In each category, the award is given to the Canadian mine with the lowest injury frequency during the previous year.

Voisey’s Bay was awarded the National title after achieving a zero-reportable injury rate over more than 2 million hours worked during 2022. This is the eighth year that Voisey’s Bay has received this prestigious award since 2014. Vale’s Coleman Mine was recognized at the regional level with a 0.42 injury rate over more than 1.2 million hours worked last year.

“At Vale it is our responsibility to ensure everyone goes home safe,” Santana said. “Safety is a precondition for everything we do, and I am enormously proud that both our sites have been recognized for their commitment to safety this past year.”

Effective immediately, the Nunatsiavut Department of Language, Culture and Tourism has assumed the responsibility of the Inuaggualuit Language Nest, previously run by the Department of Health and Social Development.

The Language Nest program is currently offered in Nain and Hopedale to children two years of age and under, with the intent to expand it to Postville, Makkovik and Rigolet.

“We will be working hard on this Inuttitut immersion program so that children, families and staff are getting the support they need to be successful in maintaining and promoting Inuttitut,” says Language, Culture and Tourism Minister Roxanne Barbour. “Parents and guardians must be willingly and actively involved in the program to ensure the children are supported at home as well. The purpose of Inuaggualuit is for children and their families to be immersed in Inuttitut with hopes that families continue to use Inuttitut at home throughout their child’s life, creating and encouraging Inuttitut speaking and learning at home.”

The position of Language Nest Manager is currently being advertised, and new resources will be created to support families in promoting and using Inuttitut.

To view the job ad, you can visit www.nunatsiavut.com/careers/language-nest-manager-nain-or-hopedale.

Louis Roberts is the Wage Subsidy Coordinator with the Labrador Aboriginal Training Program visited Nain last week.

LATP is offering a 24-week wage subsidy for small business, who are looking to hire local workers.

A simple application will be needed fill out, and to hear more, click here to hear the interview we had with Roberts.

Tourism Minister, Steve Crocker says Newfoundland and Labrador is considering legislation as Marine Atlantic it will increase its fuel surcharge – reflected in the price of a ticket- to combat the rising cost of fuel.

The company announced last Thursday the surcharge will rise from 13 percent to 17 percent.

Marine Atlantic operates ferry services out of Port aux Basques and Argentia with a direct route to North Sydney, NS. In a news release the company said it wanted to be transparent about the change and the fee will be updated twice per year on Thursday, June 1 and Friday, December 1.

“The new formula will be directly tied to the average fuel price paid by marine Atlantic,” the news release said.

“To provide pricing stability for customers- the surcharge will be applied at the time of booking, not the time of travel.”

Crocker told reporters at the House of Assembly last Thursday the timing of the change,” could not have been worse. “The province recognized National Tourism Week last Wednesday.

“Increases- are going to effect, not only tourism industry, but all industry in the province,” he said.

Industry Minister, Andrew Parsons said the issue does not fall squarely on Marine Atlantic, it also falls on the federal government.

Parsons said NL has written letters to Ottawa outlining it’s concerns over the cost recovery model for years. This has hit harder now than perhaps it ever has. So he thinks we need to have a look of what these options are, including what are the possible legal options, he said.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2023-24 Active NL Fund.

Funding is available to support community-based active healthy living initiatives, infrastructure or equipment that will help increase physical activity, sport, active recreation and healthy eating for individuals of all ages and abilities.

Applications will be accepted up to and including October 31, 2023. Not-for-profit, community-based groups and organizations, municipalities, Indigenous Governments, local service districts and schools are eligible to apply.

An additional $800,000 was allocated to this program through Budget 2023, bringing the total funding available to nearly $2.6 million.

The application form, as well as program guidelines and eligibility criteria, can be found on the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation’s at www.gov.nl.ca/tcar/funding-programs/active-nl.

Those interested in applying are encouraged to carefully review the program guidelines to determine eligibility of applicants, infrastructure projects, equipment and initiatives.

There will be a healing trauma with self-compassion treatment program at the DHSD multipurpose room from May 23rd to the 27th starting at 1pm.

They will start of with the programming and end off with seal skin mitt making with Sue Webb at 6:30pm.

To apply for this program, please contact the trauma and addictions team or Nain DHSD mental health workers for a referral form.

Contact person is Denika Lyall; she can be reached at 709-896-2305, as well as the Nain DHSD number is 709-922-2126.

Province feels it’s doing what it can based on what ‘fiscal circumstances allow’ but is not ruling out another round of cost-of-living-cheques.

The province recently increased the minimum wage to $14.50 an hour, with a planned increase to $15 on October 1st.

N.L is smack dab in the middle of the provinces nationally, offering the same wage as Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Abbott said “We’re going to monitor a situation over the next number of months and if we have to go to that measure again, we have the fiscal ability to do that. That would be certainly not off the table”.

The Energy Department and the Nunatsiavut Government recently opened a Residential Heat Pump program.

We spoke with Jamie Hewlett who is the Regional Energy Coordinator.

Hewlett says they are now accepting applications for residence in Nain, Hopedale, Postville, Makkovik and Rigolet.

Click here to find out more about this program.