Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.11.1964, Side 7

LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 26. NÓVEMBER 1964
7
The Saga Of 'New Iceland'
Framhald frá bls. 5.
them from Iceland, among
their effects, books. In their
homes they continued the
custom of gathering in the
evening, after the toil of the
day, to listen to the reading
of the Bible, their favorite
homilies, and the Icelandic
sagas. They taught their chil-
dren at home to read and
write Icelandic and do the
simple rules of arithmetic,
even as they themselves had
been taught in Iceland. The
very first winter Miss Caro-
line Taylor, niece of John
Taylor, organized classes in
English and her sister took
them over the next year.
Schools were soon established.
The first school providing in-
struction in general subjects
was set up at Gimli by Séra
Jón Bjarnason, who came to
serve the colony in 1877 and
for years was pastor of the
Icelandic Lutheran Church in
Winnipeg.
In the fall of 1877, after
they had recovered somewhat
from the hardships of the
first two years, the colonists
were visited by their good
friend and sponsor, Lord
Dufferin. By that time they
had repaired their log cabins,
cut a few roads through the
forest, and were harvesting
better crops. They decorated
their small town as best they
could in honor of their di-
stinguished guest. The Gov-
ernor General congratulated
them on the progress they
had made in the face of ad-
versity. He encouraged them
to become good citizens of
Canada and, above all, to
preserve their heritage.
All though the 1880’s and
1890’s more parties of immi-
grants continued to arrive in
Canada from Iceland as year
after year the arctic ice
plagued the country. In 1887
the largest party, 2,000 in
number, arrived in Winnipeg.
By that time the transcon-
tinental railway had been
completed and many of the
new arrivals went no farther.
Consequently, the Winnipeg
colony grew fast. However,
after the turn of the century,
as conditions in Iceland im-
proved and the arctic ice
ceased to visit its shores, the
flow of emigration gradually
decreased until it ceased en-
tirely.
Although the first two years
were the worst years for the
colonists in “New Iceland,”
their hardships were then by
no means at an end. There
was still the labor of clear-
ing the land, securing means
of communication with the
outside world, and improving
their hastily constructed
homes. They had not been ac-
customed to growing grain in
their homeland, and so their
first crops were poor. There
were years when their farms
were flooded in the spring.
All these difficulties led to
migration and the formation
of other colonies all through
westem Canada and the
United States, as far as the
Pacific Coast.
It was in “New Iceland”
that the first newspapers in
the Icelandic language in
America were printed. The
very first winter a hand-
written newspaper, called
Nýi Þjóðólfur. was circulated
at Gimli by Jón Guðmunds-
son. The next year a printing
press was set up at Lundi,
now Riverton, and a printed
newspaper, Framfari, (“Prog-
ress,”) began to appear. In
that paper are preserved the
records of the first two tragic
years of the colony. However,
due to financial difficulties,
it had to cease publication at
the end of two years. By that
time the colony in Winnipeg
was growing fast and an Ice-
landic newspaper was estab-
lished there, but it, too, soon
folded. It was followed in
1886 by Heimskringla and in
1887 by Lögberg. For financial
reasons, these two weeklies
were forced to amalgamate
some years ago and now come
out under the heading Lög-
berg-Heimskringla. This news-
paper is one of the most im-
portant bonds uniting Ice-
landers all over America.
There are other bonds that
tie together the descendants of
the early pioneers, now esti-
mated at about 40,000, in-
cluding all persons with any
Icelandic blood in their veins.
There is the Icelandic Na-
tional League which publishes
an annual in the native
tongue. There is the Icelandic
Canadian Club which brings
out a quarterly, The Icelandic
Canadian, in English, special-
izing in Icelandic subjects and
intended for those who no
longer speak Icelandic but are
interested in Iceland. There
are Icelandic churches and
literary societies wherever
people of Icelandic descent
are found in sufficient num-
bers. In 1951 the people of
Icelandic descent in America
were instrumental in estab-
lishing a Chair of Icelandic
Language and Literature at
the University of Manitoba.
As he laid a wreath at the
base of the monument erected
by their descendants in
memory of the first pioneers
at Gimli, Ásgeir Ásgeirsson,
President of Iceland, could
see that the hopes of these
hardy people had not been
realized. There no longer is a
“New Iceland.” To be sure,
their descendants are pro-
sperous; they have establish-
ed flourishing industries;
many of them hold important
posts. But they are scattered
all over North America. They
have intermarried with other
nationalities, and the second
and third generations no
longer speak or even read
Icelandic. And yet, as a whole,
they have remarkably well
preserved their interest in
Iceland and Icelandic culture,
their heritage from the early
settlers.
The American-Scandinavian
Review, Autumn Issue, 1964.
CANADA
RUM 720,000 MANNS HAFA GERZT
CANADÍSKIR B0RGARAR
Síðan 1947, að þegnréttarlöggjöf landsins
gekk í gildi
Á árinu 1963 tóku 69,000 innflytjendur þegnskapareiðinn og öðluðust fullkomin
borgaraleg réttindi í canadísku þjóðfélagi.
Sá innflytjandi, er hefir fengið löglega inngöngu í Canada, sem innflytjandi
fyrir að minnsta kosti fjórum árum og níu mánuðum síðan, getur sótt um canadískan
borgararéttindi nú þegar. Ef þér eruð einn af þeim, þá bjóðum vér yður vinsamlega, að
senda umsókn yðar án tafar.
Njótið allra þeirra réttinda og hlunninda er fullkominn þegnskapur veitir í Cana-
dísku þjóðlífi.
• réttinn iil alkvæðagreiðslu
• réilinn til opinberrar þjónusiu
• réitinn til canadísks vegabréfs
• réttinn til fullrar þátttöku í framiíðar-málum Canada
Þér getið fengið umsóknareyðublöð frá Clerk of the Citizenship, County eða
District Court, sem nálægast er, eða The Registrar of Canadian Citizenship, Ottawa.
(MJ
RENÉ TREMBLAY
Minisler of Citizenship
and Immigration