CBC Labrador morning had a somewhat puzzling story this morning. Oh it concerned Labrador alright, non the less puzzling. There is no pod cast of the story yet, who knows, maybe later.

Peter Cowan did a piece and an interview with an executive with Link Communications, or Link Mobility [LM] a small communications firm. The gist is that LM says it intends setting up cellular telephone service in three Labrador communities by late this year. The communities are Hopedale, Natuashish and Churchill Falls.
But the longer the interview went and the more Peter revealed of his research the more puzzling or convoluted things became.

Seems it will cost about $300.000 for hardware to set up in each community, not sure if that includes towers. Then there was no estimate cost of the phones and how much per minute, except that pre paid cards would be bought and roaming would be accessible, but the representative did not ooze confidence when saying that.
For sure the company would have to cut a deal with Aliant who have the entire microwave infrastructure net work.

Then comes the kicker, the communities would be responsible for owning the hardware and infrastructure, would start up individual phone companies to sell the phones and sell the pre paid cards and maintain the whole kit and caboodle.

Peter reveled that Hopedale has not committed to anything yet and there is some resistance with the high start up costs.

I am not sure if this is all a bit premature or what? And do the communities really need cellular, especially if the community governments have to anti up the start up and operational costs. There are a myriad of things that that money could be spent on.
Personally I would rather see the community and Nunatsiavut Governments look at involvement in alternative sources of power to replace the diesel guzzling pollution spewing forms we have now.

Then there is this disappointing story from CKOK. No money to finish the restoration at the Hebron sight???????????? WTF!!!!!!!!!!.
That is sad news and if I may say not a very bright idea to stop the restoration now.

Now that is project that NG should fund now and seek restitution of the funds from the funding agencies at a later date. Stopping now may lead to longer stoppage which would negate any restoration already taken place.

What should have been a pleasant walk in nice sunshine actually was an uncomfortable walk in brisk NNW winds up to 72 clicks giving -19 wind chills. Add to that a pulling dog, a soft patch of snow on an embankment you have me going arse over head onto the road. So the walk was cut short.

This article was brought to my attention; it’s from the CBC north web site. Some interesting potential proposals for change to the federal food by mail subsidy program.

While I have never taken advantage of the personal order part of the program, and I don’t know anyone who has, I think it would be wrong to eliminate it. I hear many in more northern regions take advantage of it, and I don’t see how eliminating it would improve retailer purchasing power. If it was eliminated then it would be essential that audits be carried out on a regular basis at the retail level.

They should look closely at eliminating INAC and Canada Posts involvement. Those two entities are responsible to no one, especially Canada Post.

Maybe in our area Nunatsiavut Government could play a role in the overseeing of the program. That is only if open. Transparent and accountable regimes were put in place, after all NG is just another level of government along the lines of the two other levels.

I sure would not like to see the funds going straight to the retailers.

Then again it could all boil down to the devil you know, eh?

After many years of battling with powers that be the program seems to be working from the timely delivery and the quility of product end of the program in this region.
It is just the accountability part that has most concerned people on edge.
There is no regime in place to show who actually benifit and to what degree. Get that in place and I think the status quo may work for us in Labrador.

A small sampling of case in point. Down at the Northern this morning to buy some items. There were some nice looking potatoes, white, washed, not may imperfections on them. So I picked up a bag, even though the price on the rack said “white potatoes $4.99 a Kg”.
I thought to myself that the pricing must be wrong.

Well at the check out I was proved wrong, on the read out it said ‘potatoes $4.99 a Kg with total at $10. 49.
The manager was handy and he looked at the price and had doubts and ran back to the office to check it out.
On return he said that is the price we have. I queried how come, manager said that these particular potatoes cost $40. 00 more a sack than the other varieties they have.

So I picked up a bag of russet spuds, same quantity for under 3 bucks.

It is not my intent here, nor is it ever, to cast doubt on the integrity of local store management and staff, and it never is, after all the decisions are made outside, but I think it is everybody’s duty to question when things look out of whack.

Next thing you know!!!!

Hope the lads don’t get wind of these, next thing you know they will be flying em in by the case load.
Already case loads of bottled [plastic bottles] water are flown in, seem silly, not to mention wasteful what with all the pristine water tumbling down the hills and brooks all year.

Who’s ya Mumma?

Great Grandma that is.

Puzzling why they are both so happy, after all the photo was taken the day after Montreal was knocked out of the play offs, four straight yet.

Photo credit: Louisa Lampe.

Wedding of the month.

Took in the church service for the marriage of K Naime Tuglavina to Julius Merkuratsuk yesterday morning.

I was in a bad spot for taking photos but managed to put this collage together before my batteries went flat. .

I simple ceremony without any bells and whistles, no ‘wedding party’, just K Naime’s son to walk her downs the isle.
Being only in Inuktitut the ceremony was very quick and the happy couple was walking back down the isle before I new it.

Outside there was a mini blizzard in progress, made walking back very dodgy what with the gusty wind to 80 clicks, reduced visibility and the fresh snow on top of the now frozen mush underneath.

Congratulations to Kitora Naime and Julius.

After a respite from the snow yesterday more is falling this morning, quite heavy at times. More slush and muck to come, goes with the season.

The snow buntings have all but moved on, just the odd small pod and even some lone soles dropping in for a feed.

Northern store has some, what for us are exotic vegetables and fruit. Asian pears [I had to ask], mango's and papaws, bundles of fresh herbs like flat leaf parsley, mint and rosemary. I only bought some rosemary to have with chicken, or perhaps partridge. I did buy a Savoy cabbage, goes well in coleslaw and last evening I made up some cabbage rolls.
I blanched the leaves first and removed the hard bottom part of the core. Made a filling of three types of sausage, some rosemary, fresh tomato, parmesan cheese and the diced core of the cabbage.

Rolled the leaves around the filling, placed them in oven proof dish and topped them with some of my stewed tomato/onion/zucchini.

Our German guest said they tasted like restaurant food back home….. what can I say.

Amendation: Fran remembers the statement as, "this is better than restaurants back home". I stand corrected.

The temperatures have gotten up into the pluses since Tuesday. The snow was getting a good cutting until Thursday night and Friday morning, we had a good dump of heavy wet snow.
Quite the mess around town with standing water, running water, slush, it was quite hairy driving the 4 wheeler through it all.
Still the warmer temps are welcome by almost everybody.



Now back to the eulogy for Labrador Morning [LM].

LM served Labrador well over the years, I can remember when there was both radio and television programming produced in studios in HV-GB. The programs served the people of Labrador and reflected its unique cultures and geography both within and out to the larger audience in the province and Canada.
Sadly over the years both Liberal and Conservative governments in Ottawa have chipped and grinded away at funding for the CBC, this has led to some startling bad program changes by the minions in Toronto and St. John’s.
Non more so than the latest round of funding cuts, these cuts are looking more and more like CBC programming in the regions of this province will no longer be meeting the CBC mandate and most assuredly will no longer be relevant to the avid public broadcast fans like myself.

The minions have said that the staffing and program changes to Labrador Morning will be announced some time in the next couple of months.
Well this listener is not looking forward to this announcement one little bit, as a matter of fact I am fed up with the garbage that Labrador Morning is dishing up at the moment, and this is before any proposed cuts.

The garbage I reference goes a little like this: Labrador Morning is a 2 ½ hour long program. More and more stories that reflect the interest of Labradors people, i’s events, it’s happenings are aired less frequently.

At the moment at the top of the hour we get the National net work news. I have no problem with that.
Then we get the weather forecast, no problem.
Then we get the transport report. OK, stuff people need to know.
All the above has now taken up about 20 minutes.
Add a little small talk, then some interview taken from the network about some non sequential goings on in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia or some such does not leave much time for LABRADOR STORIES in that half hour.


Then at the bottom of the hour we get the provincial news. I’m OK with that.
Then the weather. Ok some people are just getting up.
Then the transport report. Ditto.
Then the sports report. That can be a little prolonged but I understand some people are interested.
More small talk.
Another 20 minutes taken up.
Maybe a story from Labrador, maybe more network irrelevance, maybe a comedy team skit

There are at least two reporters working out of HV-GB and one out of Labrador West at the moment. My question is why are there not more Labrador stories being sought? I would like to see 100% Labrador stories but would be happy if they could manage maybe 60 to 70 %.

I do not regard a reporter sitting in HV-GB and doing a story about one of the pilots of the Hi Jacked plane in Jamaica having a Labrador connection a Labrador story. I do not give a rat’s arse if he USED to fly for a Labrador based airline some 8 years ago.


And how about this dooly; a reporter sitting in HV-GB and interviewing an Inuk, who is from Iqaluit, and living in Newfoundland, and is on holiday in New Zealand, and is kicking up a stink about a NZ candy [lolly] that has been on the market for 50 years, and is called Eskimo.


There is also the Eskimo Pie and the Edmonton Eskimos, but the little lady from Iqaluit seems much uninformed as she claimed in the interview she had not heard of the Edmonton Eskimos until she arrived in New Zealand.
Where in the bloody hell is the relevance to Labrador and its issues in this story.

Meantime, on the south and north coasts a myriad of stories go unreported. Why even eastern and western Labrador are getting short shift with the ever increasing network stories being aired.

Maybe the 922 digits on the CBC phones are stuck. Or perhaps the 933 digits are missing. Or the 939 digits are on sabbatical.
What is so hard about phoning around and chasing up stories, I thought that’s what journalists are supposed to do and do best.

So if this crap continues I will have to look to other news sources and programs. Maybe even turn the radio off in the mornings and at noon [cuts are projected for Radio Noon too], maybe even the afternoon program will be foregone.

Worse comes to worse I may listen to VOCM on the Internet. Nothing on there about Labrador usually, but neither will there be anything of interest on Labrador morning when the cuts are announced.



Sad times.



Speaking of which. I heard from a Kanajugak that old brook trout has taken the right fork in the stream of life and ended up in the shark pool. Some may say [not me] that maybe even old brook trout has descended the rapids, and down the waterfall into the piranha pool.
I wonder what Kaleo thinks of that lot?

ANZAC.

Today we remember the diggers who have gone before and who are still with us, especially me MOM and DAD.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we shall remember them.

Labrador Morning R.I.P.

The day came earlier than we anticipated but Labrador Morning is no longer relevant to the listeners of the Coastal regions, and I would offer up no longer relevant to any listeners of the so called "Big Land".

Lots of spring like activity on the go in this fine weather [well it was fine until this morning, sun sun sun, up to +2 yesterday but clouding over with maybe some rain in forecast] what with people going off to cabins, for a boil up, hunting, wooding. Quite a few people in from other communities too, some just visiting and others on way hunting, very busy little town indeed.

A small crew arrived back in town to carry on with the construction of the new Nunatsiavut Government building, lot of snow removal and de winterizing to do there.

Yesterday about a dozen Ottawa type civil servants arrived in town on the yearly ‘get to know the natives we deal with on their home turf” dog and pony show put on by ITK. They are supposed to get to know the people and had a trip off into the country. Well actually it was over to the Ten Mile Bay quarry, but country for them I guess.

I sure hop they don’t walk around Ottawa with stunned looks and all over the road like they were here. Like we have road rules and decorum up here too folks, walk in a group spread across the road and something bad could happen ya know.

Meantime on the home front several visitors have necessitated me spending more time in the kitchen. Meantime Fran has gone off with the ‘elders’ for a boil up and some fishing, some people get all the breaks.

For those living outside the area: The Hopedale couple were found around 10 am Thursday morning.
They had become disorientated in bad weather and were found outside the original search area.

Luckily they came upon a cabin; they had plenty of wood for warmth but had to ration what very little food they had with them. There is a pod cast here of interview with the RCMP search coordinator and also one of the rescued party. Her male companion was one of Fran’s nephews, so there were some anxious moments there for awhile.
Hearty thanks go out to those on the ground search and rescue team.

We had a taste of the storm yesterday sure, white out conditions at times; luckily we have not had it near as long as the rest of Labrador.

Down at Northern they have lots of specials on, nothing like a bit of competition eh? They had some in there vegetable section and varied specials in grocery and in the clothing section.

Alas the specials fairies missed some items, like Ocean Spray cranberry juice for $12.66 [same in BigLand for 6.99]. And large bags of dog food for 54 bucks [BigLand has em for 21 and change].

Both stores are getting these items in by plane this time of year, so one should shop around before buying. One thing Northern has is a good variety of potatoes [variety in spuds has been lacking last few years], some are on sale.

So with all these specials on the go and the weather the pits I cooked up some of the goodies yesterday.

Made a big pot of caribou/vegetable soup with plenty for later.

Then did a leek/ham/mushroom/cheese quiche [f-----g egg pie to some] served with lettuce and a honey/mustard/balsamic vinaigrette.

Of course Fran had the bones from the soup, poor old Siutik sat there with a pleading look all the while Fran feasted, Fran does not like sharing bones, but Siutik did get a small peace offering.

So it’s out with the winter cloths again, and it’s mid April.
To date the spring has seen us spared the snow/blowing snow of other areas, not this morning. Snow is going all which way out there with -23 wind chills.

On the food front our freezer has plenty of caribou, partridge, and fish.


We have been eating caribou all which way, roasted, soup, ground in spaghetti sauce, meat cakes [rissoles] and Fran’s favorite for fresh deer meat; sautéed with onions in salt pork served up with sanamajuk [pan fried bread dough].

The country food fest was broken up one night by a good meal of potato/leek/yam soup served up with a crepe filled with leek, mushroom, garlic and sour cream.

Yesterday BigLand had all there perishable vegetables discounted. Some were almost passed it but a lot was good enough to use. This is the sensible way to try to empty the shelves after the goods have been sitting there a week, it just seems stupid letting the stuff sit there until new stock comes in then dump the old.

Some of us take volunteer groups, particularly the people who volunteer for these groups for granted at times. Volunteers contribute greatly to individual towns and to society in general.

One of those unsung volunteers is Annie Lidd of the Nain Volunteer Fire Brigade.
I only know Annie to greet on the streets, always with the big smile and time to say hello or say a few words about something or other.

Then there was the time Annie and a couple of young kids helped me get my 4x4 Argo out of a sticky situation, I had gone down in a hole between two large chunks of ice near the old bridge, the front was down and the rear up. Annie pushed and hauled like the good ol trooper she is.

So it is fitting that Annie got some recognition in this article in the Nunatsiaq News.

Kind of a shame she had to go all the way to Iqaluit to be recognized, none the less good for Annie and Nunatsiaq news.

I do have some issues with the article though. Not sure where they got their information about the town of Nain, I am positive the population is closer to 1300 than 1000.
The building referenced as the ‘old Labrador Inuit Association building’ was more commonly known as the ‘old school’.
A small part of the old school was owned by the Okalakatiget Society with the larger portion owned by the Labrador Inuit Development Corporation and used for rental space to a number of organizations.
The long term renters where the provincial Dept. of Social Services, College of the North Atlantic, Torngnasok Cultural center, plus LIDC themselves. Later renovations where made and a number of affiliates of LIA moved in along with several private sector groups.

Labrador Inuit Association had its HQ in several buildings over the years, never in the ‘old school’ though.

All that is mute now, but, we don’t want to revise history do we.

There has been no good news out of Hopedale overnight. A couple of groups of searchers went out late afternoon yesterday to look for the two missing people, several cabins were checked but to no avail.
Weather is hampering the search efforts, high winds with blowing snow makes it difficult for the ground searchers, a chopper is on stand by in Goose Bay to join in the search as soon as the weather permits, that is not looking like any time soon with winds up to 90 KPH and more snow forecast in the area.

Update: There is good news from Hopedale, two found and on way back to town in chopper.

We missed the snow that was predicted, just overcast, winds did get up to 78KPH overnight.

Seems Goose Bay is getting lots of snow.

Weather not that good in Hopedale either, sure hope the two people who are overdue are alright hunkered down in a cabin.

We are on tenterhooks waiting for this alleged terrible storm to hit us.
As of this moment we are spared, just very light snow with moderate winds.
Not so in Hopedale where it is raging and a couple of people are overdue getting home, trust they are OK.

The Easter games started on the weekend, it was a nice day for some kid’s games on the ice yesterday, and games are also taking place in the town hall.

I was pleasantly surprised to see council workers clear several of the communal garbage boxes of some of the built up snow and refuse this past Wednesday afternoon, see top left photo.

This has made it more difficult for loose dogs to get at any garbage put in them over the long weekend.
Also noticed that the guys were collecting garbage on Saturday and again yesterday.

It sure is a pleasure not having garbage strewn all over the place like it was last Monday, see second photo, sort of more like how it should be see bottom photo.

Kudos to those responsible.

Siutikerectus.

On Saturday afternoon while Fran took in the ‘giant Easter bingo’ I took to the hills and brooks to soak up some rays

Half way along a brook I came upon some tracks that made me think that a dangerous carnivore was in the vicinity.
Proceeding with caution I rounded a corner of the brook and there amongst the willows was the dangerous carnivore hunting a flock of plectrophenax nivalis.

Siutikerectus’s hunting techniques were off this day so she decided to have a brief respite before another foray into the wilds of Labrador.

Fran did not win the giant prize which was shared among several. A smaller win was all she could manage, but it is not the winning, it’s the participation that counts for Fran.

For Sunday dinner I roasted some bacon wrapped plectrophenax nivalis.

Narh boy, those are bacon wrapped stuffed partridge, some good too.

Wonder if the roman pot needs cleaning? Maybe not.

. The snow cleared away on Friday followed by sun to die for [don’t tell the GD who is still in class or in the air].

Great weekend for those going off to cabins or just doing stuff around town.

The invasion of the snow birds is in full force, I do not remember when we have had them in such large numbers, large flocks all over town.

The weather forecast is for very shitty weather in southern Labrador and parts of the island but mainly clear for us.

I was listening to CBC this morning; Michael Enright was saying a study of 66 centers across the country found that fresh healthy food prices vary widely in large parts of the country, some times up to 6 times more. Meantime junk foods prices are more stable and consistent in the same centers.

Late yesterday I purchased 2 for 1 large chocolate easter bunnies with fruits and nuts, selling like hot cross buns they were.

Meanwhile in another store mangos, pawpaw, bananas, lettuce, tomato and the like is left to go rotten.

Your package has experienced an exception

What was intended to be a post of condemnation has turned into a post of congratulation.

I made a small order with Hickory Farms back on March 26th. Only reason I made the order was that two of the items ordered were heavily discounted, the other was regular price.
On check out the shipping, via UPS, came to just under the total of the order. What the hell, I figure what I saved on the sale items I pay in shipping, plus we are used to high shipping costs.

The order was not shipped until the March 30. I then had a tracking order number with UPS. It got to Quebec quickly, than nothing for awhile. Then yesterday it looked like the order was back in Quebec with the notice of: Your package has experienced an exception.
The exception was that since I lived in a remote place they could not deliver on the time promised.

So I thought that was the end of that............................ Not so.

We are at the post office this morning, nothing interesting in the mail, I was just about to walk out the door when the post master shouts out “ Hey Brian, there is something here for you”.
When I get to the counter she adds, “at least I think it is for you”. There were three boxes with ship to: Myself with my address below that.

Long story short, UPS had handed the parcels off to Purolator in Goose Bay who then handed it to Canada Post [they are one and the same anyway] who got it here quick smart from Goose Bay.

This is not the first time this has happened with orders with Hickory Farms, why they don’t just send it with Canada Post puzzles me.

Just a small tast of what sort of things we go through to live up here, then again it beats the burbs for sure.
Non the less congratulations.


Below is the stuff I had saved before going to the post office, read it bottom to top. .
Location
Date
Local Time
Description
JONQUIERE,QC, CA
08/04/2009
7:36
THE ADDRESS IS IN A REMOTE AREA AND DELIVERIES ARE NOT MADE DAILY
LACHINE,QC, CA
31/03/2009
19:59
DEPARTURE SCAN
31/03/2009
15:01
ARRIVAL SCAN
CONCORD,ON, CA
31/03/2009
7:47
DEPARTURE SCAN
CONCORD,ON, CA
30/03/2009
23:00
ORIGIN SCAN
CA
30/03/2009
11:17
BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED Tracking results provided by UPS: 09/04/2009 9:02 ET

And here is the order total just for reference:

Product Total: $32.00 CAD
HST: $4.16 CAD
Shipping: $31.05 CAD
Shipping Surcharges: $0.00 CAD
HST: $4.04 CAD
Total: $71.25 CAD

Weather wise we are into typical ester conditions, warm [if you consider -1 warm] light snow off and on. No planes yesterday but things seem to be moving today, you don't see the planes until they get down to about 500 feet but sure can hear them.

Elizabeth and Francis spring walk 2009.

Photo credits go to Jennifer Saner-Harvey

There was another less publicized walk that just finished on March 26th.

Every spring for the last 13 years Elizabeth Penashue and her husband Francis lead a walk of Innu and any others who wish to partake.
This year the walk lasted 3 weeks, some people walked the whole distance; others came and went as their schedules permitted, there were people from all walks of life and several different counties.
They mainly live off the land and are also supported by people with ski doos and komatiks who bring camping stuff and help make camp.

Main purpose of the walk is to maintain contact with the traditions of Innu life and also for healing. The relationship with the land is extremely important for aboriginal people, sadly many have forgotten that, but not Elizabeth and Francis and their ilk.
In two posts we have some photographs from the latest walk.

Elizabeth and Francis spring walk 2009 II

Photo credits go to Jennifer Saner-Harvey

I know, nobodies counting, but we hit eight days of sunny great mind blowing weather yesterday.

It was so warm we hit the harbor ice in our fashionable spring attire. The only white in the sky were the contrails of planes coming in from Europe.

Very light snow is falling this morning so that is that, long weekend must be coming up, the forecast is not so good.

Sure is sad to read reports of Italy’s latest earth quake deaths and devastation.

Thirty years ago I spent a couple of days in L'Aquila. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, it seemed like most of the population was out enjoying the late autumn sunshine, everybody was dressed to the nines in what looked like family groups, just parading around the streets and this very large square.

Two of use had come ashore by ferry at Brendisi from Greece. We did a short drive up the coast then headed inland and took a leisurely drive up the ‘spine’ of Italy.

The medieval buildings in many of the towns and villages in that region were all very impressive and there images have stayed with me all these years.

I think it took us five days to make it to Little St. Bernard Pass, a very small and unmanned border crossing into France.
I still recall the Second World War anti tank emplacements that were on both sides of the road. On the France side there was no need for any emplacements, the bloody road was so narrow and windy that any tank driver in his right mind would have done a u-ey and gone back the way he came. But then the tanks would have been coming up the hill, hence the emplacements.

Update on the RCMP volleyball tournament in Hopedale:

Fran, being from Hopedale and having lots of relatives there would naturally cheer for them, then again her grandson is from here so she would want to cheer for him.

So there is some good news bad news for her in the results. The Hopedale men's won there event, grandsons team was beaten in the semi final.

In the women's event Nain won that, with two Hopedale players making up the

numbers. A good compromise all round I would think.

We are into the sixth sunny day [but whose counting], seems like the yucky wet and white stuff will track to the south of us again.

Went down to the airstrip in the afternoon to see off great grand kid #2 who was going on his first social trip out.
Terence was accompanying his mom and dad who were going to Hopedale for the 25th Annual RCMP Volley Ball tournament being held this weekend.
Dad was part of a contingent of about 3 teams entered from Nain; about 19 to 20 teams are entered altogether. So busy times in Hopedale.

We took in two walks yesterday. One in the morning out on the harbor ice on the way to

Northern.
In the afternoon while Fran attended a senior’s event Siutik and I took to the hills.
Siutik was in great spirits, non stop all the trip. Up and down on the road, to and fro into and out of the wood, surfing the powder snow, checking out the hidden smells.

On the way home we took the brook trail that runs into the old dam. As is usual this time of year the dam is coring with a slushy wet surface over a large part of it.

On leaving the brook Siutik took the southern side while I took the northern rout. Half way along the dam she decided she wanted to get back to me but would not go onto the slush, tried several spots but always went back. She tried the stare that says “hay, come over this way” but I said no way, we are going up the hill to the house.
So she took off at top speed around the wet bit and back to me, just in time too as the dog catcher came along just then on his ski doo and catcher komatik. He stopped for a chat but not about Siutik.

Seems like Labrador is not the only place with a threatened deer population, china is having trouble too.

In the interest of balance [from my perspective] Natalie managed to get down on the ground and interview, or be shouted at depending on your perspective, an Innu Chief from Quebec for their side of the alleged controversial caribou hunt.
You can see Natalie and the Innu starting at 13.34 in.

Balanced is not the operative word [IMO] in the cuts being made to CBC radio regional shows, but particularly to the small market areas like Labrador, Corner Brook and others across the country.

I listened to the phone in show on Radio Noon yesterday; the guest was Richard Stursberg, CBC's vice-president of English services.
To me Mr.Stursburg sounded very much a proponent of South North communication, rather than getting views and news running in the north south direction.

While he made all the right noises and expressions of sympathy to the uniqueness of Labrador and expressed his knowledge that CBC is the only voice in the area none the less he gave no indication that the staffing and program cuts will be re visited.

Why I think Mr. Strursberg is not tuned into the needs of the small radio markets is that every time a caller, or the host, raised the importance of radio to the area he used television programming and viewer stats to make his point for any of the cuts. Plus he used examples like London and Hamilton Ont as NOT HAVING ANY local morning shows. Thing is they have alternatives and we don’t, as Mr. Stursberg acknowledge but ignores at the same time.

I understand that there is a large shortfall in funding and monies coming in to CBC, I still think on the whole the cuts are going to effect regions like Labrador far greater than say St. John’s.

Best we can hope for is a change in Ottawa. Or perhaps an epiphany by the CBC honchos on the way to the cottage [cabin]. After all CBC did sort of admit error after they cut the local super hour TV news, it was not long before it was back to almost it’s original.

The so called controversial caribou hunt going on south of Goose Bay is perplexing. Perplexing in the sense I do not know who to believe. The map is courtesy of Labrador.
Without clear evidence, and that means a media presence or another unbiased observer, then all it boils down to is she said he said.
If the government has video footage that proves their case then some of it should be released to the public. Surely they don’t expect us to wait for the case to go to court [if it ever does], that could take years given the track record in the courts to date.

And Natalie Kalata's first venture outside the confines of Labrador City did not go very well, shades of Apocalypse Now, or Good Morning Vietnam on steroids.
I think it may have been her first story on Aboriginals, pity there were non around. Come to think of it the video shows nothing but some paunches and tracks of animals and snowmobiles.
And whose bright idea was it to do the piece from a chopper? Hard to hear what she is saying over the noise of the engine and the flapping of her right arm.
Natalie is 18 minutes in.