Today, at an event in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, the Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, along with the Honourable Lisa Dempster, Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development, officially announced the 15 members of the Board of Directors for the 2019 Labrador Winter Games.

The board will be chaired by Ernie McLean of North West River. Mr. McLean will be joined by board members John Andersen, Janice Barnes, Eugene Hart, Randy Letto, George Russell, Pauline Russell, Mary Winters and Todd Winters.

Ex-officio members of the board are Andrew Battcock, Jackie Compton-Hobbs, Rex Goudie, Michelle Healey, Michelle Watkins and Lt.-Col. Andrew Wedgewood. Lt.-Col. Stéphane Racle will assume Lt.-Col. Wedgewood’s position on the board following a change of command ceremony at 5 Wing Goose Bay in July. Biographies of the board members are provided in the backgrounder below.

The Labrador Winter Games are held every three years, typically in March. More than 300 participants from communities across Labrador are invited to participate. The official dates for the 2019 games will be determined by the board in the near future.

Budget 2018 allocated $500,000 for the 2019 Labrador Winter Games.

The Governments of Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada, together with the College of the North Atlantic (CNA), announced investments totalling more than $1.2 million towards a new, state-of-the-art mining training simulator, launched today at the college’s Happy Valley-Goose Bay campus.

The Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, announced $132,000 from the Regional Development Fund on behalf of the Provincial Government towards the project.

Yvonne Jones, Member of Parliament for Labrador, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, announced $851,287 from ACOA’s Innovative Communities Fund for the initiative.

CNA contributed $250,000.

The simulator will strengthen the college’s ability to offer training specific to the underground mining sector, resulting in a highly skilled workforce able to meet the particular needs of that sub-sector of the industry.

This investment supports the Atlantic Growth Strategy, one way the Government of Canada is working to achieve its Innovation and Skills Plan outcomes in this region by helping ensure everyone has the jobs, skills and learning to seize new opportunities and succeed in a growing innovation economy.

This initiative delivers on commitments in The Way Forward to strengthen the province’s economic foundation.

The Way Forward outlines all actions the Provincial Government is taking to achieve a strong, diversified province with a high standard of living, and can be viewed at thewayforward.gov.nl.ca.

OKâlaKatiget Society Board held their Annual General Meeting in Nain on June 22, 2018.

Carol Gear is the President of the OKalaKatiget Board.

She says that they flew into Nain on Friday morning and met to do their AGM at the boardroom on Friday afternoon.

Gear says that it was just the AGM which gives their delegates or communities a chance to ask the board questions and see if they have any concerns or suggestions for the future of the OK Society.

To hear Gear talk about more information on what they discussed at this year’s AGM, click HERE.

An announcement was made last Friday that the power rates in Newfoundland and Labrador will increase almost by 7% on July 1st.

An average increase of consumer electricity rates of 6.8 % was approved by the Newfoundland and Labrador Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities, but the actual amount of increase will vary for individual customers depending on the type of service and the amount of electricity used.

On average, residential electricity rates will increase by 6.8 % to 8.3 % depending on class of service.

For street and area lighting, the monthly rates will increase by an average of 1.6%.

Expo Labrador Conference and Trade Exhibition will take place in Happy Valley-Goose Bay starting Monday, June 25th – 28th.

Ernie McLean is the Chair.

He says it’s a travel day for the delegates today, the conference starts tomorrow.

McLean says the invited guests speakers include: Newfoundland and Labrador Premier, MP for Labrador, Nunatsiavut Deputy Minister and MP for Nunavut.

He says there will be discussions on different types of opportunities within tourism and mining.

To hear McLean discuss more details on the conference, click HERE.

The Food Centre in Nain now has its official name.

We spoke with Shelley Dicker, Community Food Coordinator for the Nunatsiavut Government.

It is now called Nigivik Centre.

There was a contest for people to name the centre.

And there was also a logo contest as well.

Donna Dicker and Toby Kojak won the name the centre contest.

They both won a $100 gift certificate.

And Caleb Dyson won the logo contest and he won a $200 gift certificate.

Dicker adds that she is still taking names for the programs that she is offering.

She is doing programs on Tuesday, Wednesday evenings are for youth from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

And on Thursdays they are still doing the power hour walk up at the Jeremias Sillett Community Centre.

National Indigenous Peoples Day was celebrated in most parts of Nunatsiavut last week.

In Postville, they started their celebrations yesterday with Family Fire Pit at the playground.

They continue today with a family traditional food potluck taking place at the community center at 4:30pm.

Tonight there will be a Jerry Cans concert at the school gym at 7pm.

In Rigolet, they will hold their celebrations on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at the community Hall.

There will be prizes, good food, a live performance by the Jerry Cans, speeches and drum dancing starting at 6:30pm.

There will be a science camp held in North West River this summer on July 9th-13th.

Jodie Lane is the Education Manager for Nunatsiavut government.

Lane says this is open to NunatuKavut, Innu Nation and Nunatsiavut members who would like to attend.

Lane says there are 10 seats available.

To hear more of the Science camp that will be held in NWR in July, click HERE.

Commencement of the 2018 North Coast of Labrador Passenger and Freight Service Further Impacted by Ice.

Nunatsiavut Marine wishes to advise the public that the departure of the MV Northern Ranger from Happy Valley – Goose Bay, tentatively scheduled for June 25, 2018, will be postponed due to unfavourable Ice conditions on the North Coast of Labrador.

Passengers with confirmed reservations who are being affected by the postponed departure will be contacted by a customer service representative.

We are continuing to monitor ice charts on a daily basis and expect conditions to improve around the middle of next week.

Once conditions are deemed to be safe for sailing, the MV Northern Ranger and the MV Astron will commence service on the North Coast of Labrador.

The Jerry Cans will soon be performing in Nunatsiavut.

The concerts will be brought to you by the Department of Health and Social Development.

The Jerry Cans are a band from Iqaluit, Nunavut who combine traditional Inuit throat singing with folk music and country music.

They will perform at the Jeremias Sillitt Community Center at 7 pm on Saturday June 23, 2018.

The Jerry Cans will be performing at the Nanuk Centre in Hopedale; the time is to be announced once it is confirmed.

On June 25th, they will be in Postville at the B.L. Morrison School Gym at 7 pm.
The Jerry Cans will also be in Makkovik.

They are scheduled to be there for a concert on June 26th, and also to do a youth session at the school on June 27th.

The band will be in Rigolet on the 27th; the place and time are to be determined.

OK Radio will have more information on the performances of the Jerry Cans once it becomes available.