The Labrador Friendship Centre in Happy Valley Goose Bay has an information session for Men coming up next month in Nain.

We spoke with Nancy Gear, Indigenous Justice Navigator from the Labrador Friendship Centre in Goose-Bay.

There will be an information session for all men based on Justice Services and Trauma and Addictions Programs starting Tuesday, October 3rd to Wednesday, October 4th, 2023.

This will be located at the Pulapvik building starting 7pm. Snacks and prizes will be available.

Gear adds that there will be Denika Lyall, Mental Health and Trauma and Addictions Worker, along with other staff, this will be confirmed more on a closer date.

On Tuesday, October 3rd they will have an open information session about their services, and on Wednesday, October 4th they will have Merchandise Bingo.

If you are interested in attending this session please contact Nancy Gear at 709-896-8302 ext. 219, or email ngear@lfchvgb.ca, or email denikalyall@nunatsiavut.com.

Mark Turner and Terry Howlett recently held a Brass Brand workshop in Nain, and in Hopedale, and unfortunately, do to weather conditions, they did not make it to Makkovik as planned.

Turner, and Howlett spoke of how the workshops went, and that they were satisfied with the turn outs.

Click here to hear more about these Brass Band Workshops.

The Qanuippita Inuit Health Survey is being conducted throughout the 4 Inuit regions Including Nunatsiavut.

The Qanuippita Inuit Health Survey was last conducted in 2017, and is meant to be held every five years.

Fieldworkers collect data on the current health of Inuit of all ages in all Inuit communities across the country.

The focus of the survey will be on the overall health of Inuit, including factors identified as important social determinants of Inuit health such as housing, food security, mental well-being, health services, safety and security, education, income, livelihood, culture and language.
Tina Ponniuk is the Qanuippitaa Manager for the Nunatsiavut Government’s Department of Health and Social Development.
Ponniuk says that Makkovik and Rigolet is 100% complete.
Postville is 40% completed, Hopedale is 98% and Nain is approximately 25% completed.
Ponniuk adds that Field workers will return to Nain on the 18th of September to continue its surveys.
She also adds that they just hired on a new Qanuippitaa coordinator, Jillian Michelin of Happy Valley Goose Bay was the successful applicant, and she will be travelling to Nain on the 18th, while Ponniuk will be in Nain on the 20th.

The coastal Department of Health and Social Developments is busy this month for the World Suicide Prevention Day and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder event.

We spoke with Joan Goudie, Public Health Nurse in Postville.

She says on Friday, September 8, 2023, starting 7:30am there is a breakfast drive through of an English muffin with bacon and egger, or sausage and egger, of your choice with information on the FASD Prevention and Awareness, along with a quiz sheet, and each name entered will get a chance to win a prize.

Jennifer Jacque Poole, Mental Health and Addictions worker for Postville also says they gave away snacks to 43 students in school.

This Sunday, September 10, 2023, they will hold the World Suicide Prevention Day with a walkand afire pit starting 6:30pm at the DHSD building.

The Mental Health Team in Nain from the DHSD will be also holding some programs on Suicide prevention Day.

Elsie Russell is the Mental Health and Addictions Worker for DHSD.

On Saturday, September 9th there is a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder event. This event they will have an outreach to the school, along with snacks for the students.

On Thursday, September 14th there is World Suicide Prevention Day.

At 6pm they will have an opening prayer then a walk down to the Nunatsiavut Government building area on the hotel road then back to the DHSD building.

There will be soup and sandwiches available, along with some T-shirts, Fanny packs, and Gloves to give away.

At 8pm they will have the candle on the window for a flame of hope. There will also be prizes during this event.

Russell adds that they also donated helmets to the daycare children in Nain, the helmets were from the Labrador Regional Wellness Association team.

OKâlaKatiget Radio reached out to the coastal Inuit Community Government’s office for a community update.

Last week we were in contactwith the Nain ICG for updates, and now we have an update with the Makkovik and Postville ICGs.

In Makkovik we spoke with Angajukâk Barry Andersen.

He says the town is doing a community clean up, cleaning of the ditches and willows, and the contractors will be coming to town on September 25, 2023, to set up the playground near the Makkovikarena area.

There is also contract work being done in town by Nunatsiavut Government Construction on the multiplex buildings.

Andersen says that there are no other projects on the go, and with the Torngat Fisheries Cooperative fish plant they are still taking turbot in, he also mentions that the sewer project was completed in July of this year.

We also spoke with Diane Gear, Angajukâk of Postville.

Gear says there is nothing on the go as of right now, and that this summer was areally slow summer.

Rigolet Inuit Community Government currently has no updates, and will get in touch with us once they have any updates.

And as for the Hopedale’s Inuit Community Government, they were unable to speak with us today, due to meetings. We will get an update from them once the AngajukKâk is available to speak to us.

Sarah Ponniuk is an elder living in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Ponniuk was relocated from Nutâk when she was just five years old.

Ponniuk is now the age of 73, this year she had the chance to travel to her homeland this summer.

Ponniuk says, she enjoyed reminiscing while she was there and visited many of the old homesteads, and they tried to hunt and fish with no success.

Click here to hear Ponniuk speak about her trip home.

Nunatsiavut Group of Companies (NGC) realizes the importance of education and of providing opportunities to assist beneficiaries of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (LILCA) in the pursuit of their goals and careers.

So, every year NGC hands out post-secondary scholarships available to help students to achieve their goals and become our future Leaders, Managers, and Professionals.

NGC supports the education goals of Beneficiaries who study in areas connected to our lines of business.

The Application Deadline was July 31, 2023.

Each student will be awarded $1250 each.

The Nunatsiavut Group of Companies would like to congratulate the following 2023 NGC scholarship recipients.

Well-deserved achievements go out to the following recipients: Chloe Dicker of Hopedale, she will be attending the Eastern Academy, her Program is with the Business Administration.

To Erin Saunders of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, attending the College of the North Atlantic – Program: Mental Health and Addictions.

Also, to Kanses Winters of Hopedale, she will be attending to the Memorial University of Newfoundland – Program: Pre-Engineering and to Keisha Kajuatsiak –of Nain but who lives in Roddickton, attending to the College of the North Atlantic – Program: Mining Engineering Technician.

NGC wishes you all the best in your post-secondary studies! Stay tuned for our September 2023 newsletter to read more about our scholarship recipients, which will be available on our website soon: https://www.ngc-ng.ca/category/newsletter/

OKâlaKatiget Radio reached out to the coastal Inuit Community Government’s office for a community update.

Last week we were in contactwith the Nain ICG for updates, and now we have an update with the Makkovik and Postville ICGs.

In Makkovik we spoke with Angajukâk Barry Andersen.

He says the town is doing a community clean up, cleaning of the ditches and willows, and the contractors will be coming to town on September 25, 2023, to set up the playground near the Makkovikarena area.

There is also contract work being done in town by Nunatsiavut Government Construction on the multiplex buildings.

Andersen says that there are no other projects on the go, and with the Torngat Fisheries Cooperative fish plant they are still taking turbot in, he also mentions that the sewer project was completed in July of this year.

We also spoke with Diane Gear, Angajukâk of Postville.

Gear says there is nothing on the go as of right now, and that this summer was areally slow summer.

Here is another update within the Makkovik and Nain Fish Plants.

Angel Chaulk is the Clerk for the Makkovik Fish Plant.

She says the Makkovik facility will stop purchasing turbot this Saturday, September 9th at 12 noon.

There are 2 active boats out fishing, and today they landed 342,153lb of turbot with 17 employees left working.

Right now, they are currently sold out of scallops and smoked char, but they are expecting to have more soon.

If you have any questions, please call the Makkovik fish plant 709-923-2230.

We also spoke with Deidi Kohlmeister, the Supervisor for Nain Fish Plant.

Kohlmeister says right no they have 4 employees left to do cleaning.

She adds that they have scallops, smoked fish, and char fillets for sale.

Their hours of work are from Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.

The Torngat Mountains Base Camp Research station is located 200 kms north of Labrador’s most northerly community of Nain.

Torngat Mountains Base Camp and Research Station started their summer operations on July 19, 2023.

We spoke with Brandy Stuckless who is the Logistics Manager with the Air Borelias with the Base Camp Research Station.

Hosting international researchers, Inuit elders and youth, as well as visitors from all over the world, you will be in company of some fascinating people.

She says this summer was very busy with operations at the Base camp.

This year there were two different Nunatsiavut Government Youth programs.

Click here to find out more.