OK Radio contacted each of the north coast community freezers to see what they have.

The Nain community freezer is now open and they only have partridges at the moment.

The Hopedale community freezer has partridges and moose meat to distribute.

The Makkovik community freezer has cod fish and arctic char available.

Postville’s community freezer has cod fish and a few arctic char, some ground beef, pork chops, and chicken.

AngajukKâk Glenn Sheppard of Postville says they’ll hopefully have some caribou and musk ox available in the near future for the community freezer.

Sheppard also says they also got a food pantry available to the community and was restocked yesterday with dry goods.

People of Postville can get their needs daily from the community freezer.

Rigolet’s community freezer opens to the public once every 2 weeks, so people went and got what they needed yesterday.

They have cod loins, crab claws, scallops, shrimp, pork roast, and beef blade roast to offer to the community. The next date it’ll open is April 11th to the public.

Officials hope that $70 million in funding earmarked for affordable housing over the next three years will help to ease backlogs and demand.

The provincial government expects to issue a call for proposals in the next month or so for 850 new affordable rental units in the province with a specific focus on seniors’ housing.

Minister Responsible for NL Housing, John Abbott says the current wait list for NL Housing units is lengthy.

He says there are over 2,000 on their wait list, but he says with rental supplements available, they’re hoping more people will be eligible to get affordable housing in the private market.

Executive Director of Seniors NL, Kelly Heisz calls it the biggest build in affordable housing in a long time. She says demand is high right across the province.

She says demand in rural and remote areas is high, as well as in more heavily populated areas outside the metro region including Corner Brook, Springdale, Grand Falls-Windsor, and “especially Labrador.”

Story courtesy of VOCM.

Ten-digit dialing is about to be introduced across the province regardless whether you’re dialing long distance.

The change was announced last fall after the CRTC – the regulating body for all radio, television, and telecommunications across the country announced that it was adopting 9-8-8 as the number to call for all Canadians in need of immediate mental health crisis and suicide prevention intervention.

Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the few areas of the country where seven digit dialing is still the norm.

Starting this weekend, anyone who dials seven-digits will receive a recorded message reminding them to use ten digits.

The latest statistics from the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Health reveal six new deaths from COVID-19 reported since the last update, two weeks ago.

In Wednesday’s update, the provincial Health Department says there have been no new deaths in the latest two-week reporting period, March 12-25, but data in the regional and age breakdowns on the government’s COVID-19 website shows the number of total deaths has climbed by six.

Since the provincial government moved to biweekly pandemic updates, the number of announced new deaths has been consistently underreported by the Health Department. The department says the discrepancy is due to deaths that have been reported since the last update but which happened before the latest two-week reporting period. In this case, the six deaths would have occurred before March 12 but weren’t recorded until after the previous pandemic update, on March 15.

Over the two-week period, 16 people were hospitalized, most of them, 11 people, in the Eastern Health region. Three people were hospitalized in Western Health, one in Central Health and one in Labrador-Grenfell Health. Two of the hospitalizations required critical care.

The new deaths raise Newfoundland and Labrador’s total since the pandemic began to 339, with 44 so far in 2023.

Courtesy of CBC News

To hear Inuktitut stories told by the elders is interesting.

There are times when they talk it can remind you of past experiences.

John Jararuse was originally from Hebron and lived in Nain.

He said he remembers when he was growing up, the elders used to know what the weather would be like as soon as they went outside in the morning.

He added that there have been a lot of changes due to climate change through all these years, which also has affected the wild animals.

Click here to hear late Jararuse from March 2017, talking about these changes he’s seen.

The bus outside the Gathering Place on Military Road is gone, but for a good reason.

A vehicle slid into the slippery road condition on Friday according to Gathering Place Executive Director, Paul Davis. The shelter was the focus of some controversy over the winter when a Metrobus notification went up indicating that it was being removed.

That resulted in a public outcry and resulted in an agreement between council and Metrobus that it would remain for the time being.

The shelter was removed on the weekend because of the damage caused.

Metrobus says decision on replacement of the structure had not yet been made.

Executive Director hopes to have the shelter will be replaced.

And the Executive Director of the Gathering Place, Paul Davis has written a letter Metrobus asking them to consider expanding the shelter outside the facility.

He is suggesting that it is a good time to have a discussion about a better model of what could be put back there. He is hopeful that Metrobus will see the benefit of the bus shelter and ensure that it is replaced.

NG is seeking bids from qualified contractors to begin construction of a 4136 square foot Duplex Apartment Building in Makkovik during the 2023 construction season.

The NG intends for the construction of the two-level apartment building to be substantially to complete within 16 months from the date of notification award of contract. Details for this tender can be found on MERX Canadians Public Tenders on the www.merx.com website.

Bids are to be submitted online through MERX Canadian Public Tenders no later than 2pm on Tuesday, April 18 this year.

For information, please contact Terry Rice – Capital Project Coordinator at terry.rice@nunatsiavut.com, cc: infra.ngprocurement@nunatsiavut.com, with subject line CONSTRUCTION OF DUPLEX APARTMENT MAKKOVIK (NGINF-104A).

The lowest cost or any proposal may not necessarily be accepted and the Nunatsiavut Government reserves the right to cancel this RFP.

Proposals will be evaluated on the principles of value for money, which include an evaluation of the Inuit Content factor pursuant to the Procurement Act.

Minimum wage is about to increase- it jumps to $14.50 an hour on Saturday, April 1.

The 80¢ (cent) increase is the first of two increases this year.

As of Sunday, October 1, the minimum wage goes up another .50 cents bringing it to $15 an hour.

Effective yesterday, March 27, the Provincial Government is advising that the NLVaxPass application is no longer available as COVID-19 has become part of the infectious disease landscape.

Proof of vaccination may be required for travel and residents can continue to access their COVID-19 vaccination records through the Vaccine Portal or via MyGovNL

For detailed instructions on how to access your COVID-19 vaccination record, visit www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19/.

The Torngat Wildlife, Plants and Fisheries Secretariat held an information session last week.

Craig Taylor who is the Fisheries Analyst for Torngat Secretariat, invited the public to talk about the ongoing Arctic Char Project at Fraser River.

He says he was committed to doing Arctic char research after hearing concerns on the health of the stocks of char in the local area.

Click here to hear more of the information session with Taylor.