The Minister of Indigenous and Labrador affairs is offering her thoughts and prayers to a valued member of the department, injured in a terrible crash just over a week ago.

Minister Lisa Dempster says it was with shock that she took a call just over a week ago from the sister of Nicole Kieley, informing her that her sister was injured and in hospital.

Kieley, the Deputy Mayor of Mount Pearl, was just leaving Shoppers Drug Mart on Lemarchant Road on the afternoon of Sunday, May 21, when she was struck by an SUV that crashed through the front of the store.

Kieley was trapped under the vehicle and had to be extracted with the help of the St. John’s Regional Fire Department.

Minister Dempster describes a “week of sadness and disbelief” for her and her entire staff. The minister remains in daily contact with Kieley’s family and says she, and many others, are holding Nicole, and her family, close in their thoughts and prayers.