Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.03.1984, Blaðsíða 3

WINNIPEG, FOSTUDAGUR 2. MARZ 1984-3
The Manitoba Intercultural Council
Last fall I wrote a short article
which appeared in the Lögberg-
Heimskringla, announcing and
describing the newly-formed
Manitoba Intercultural Council. For
those of you who may have missed
the earlier article, I would like to
briefly review the formation and
nature of the council, and then go on
to describe some of the work the
council has done over the last five
months since its inception.
The Manitoba Intercultural Council
was created by an Act of the Manito-
ba Legislature. It is a consultative and
advisory body to the Manitoba
Government, providing information
and advice to government depart-
ments on matters of concern to the
many cultural minorities in this pro-
vince. Before the council was
created, representatives of every
cultural organization registered with
the Department of Cultural Affairs
were invited to an ''Ethnocultural
Assembly", where each of the
cultural groups present was asked to
elect a member to the future council.
Only two Icelandic organizations
were registered with the department;
I attended as the representative of the
Icelandic Language and Cultural
Camp — the other organization
(which I shall not name) did not see
fit to send a representative —
therefore I became the Icelandic
member of the Manitoba Inter-
cultural Council by acclamation.
The real work of the Council is
done by five Standing Committees.
To date the following people have
volunteered to represent Manitoba's
Icelandic community on these
committees:
Human rights: Don Bjornson, 1207
- 77 University Cres., Wpg; Kent
Bjornsson, 7 Syracuse Cres. Wpg.
R3T 4R9.
Media and Communications:
Stefan Olafur Brandson, R.R. 1,
Libau ROE ÍCO.
Cultural Affairs and Heritage
Resources: Elva Simundsson, Box
285, Gimli ROC 1B0.
Immigration Settlement: Gunnar
Valdimarsson, 10 - 111 Scott St.,
Wpg.
Education and Youth: Jamie-Lynn
Magnusson, 247 - 99 Dalhousie Dr.,
Wpg. R3T 3M2; Lee Brandson, 201
- 99 Dalhousie Dr., Wpg. R3T 3M2.
As each of these committees has
The Icelandic Association
of Washington, D.C., Inc.
Report on 1983 Christmas Party
Our 1983 Christmas Party, held on
Sun., December 18, was a resound-
ing success. Over 80 children and ap-
proximately 45 adults attended the
gathering and shared some Icelandic
traditioris and Christmas fellowship.
A wide assortment of cookies and
other Christmas goodies were
brought in by our members. Special
thanks must go out to Sigurborg
Ragnarsdóttir and her son Ragnar
Karl Stefánsson for their interesting
presentation on Icelandic Christmas
customs, to Ingimundur Friðriksson
for his excellent piano playing, to
Auður Colot for the delicious hot
chocolate, Steffý Donegan for the
spiced cider punch and especially to
Jólasveinninn Erlingur Ellertsson, for
the candy preparation and the patient
and entertaining way he dealt with
such a large group of children.
Scandinavian Council
Board Meeting
The Scandinanvian Council Board
met Sunday, January 29, 1984, at the
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Connec-
ticut Ave. and Ellicott Street N.W.,
Washington, D.C. This was the an-
nual business meeting and a variety
of Nordic activities was discussed.
Refreshments were served.
Kalcvala Day Celebration
The Finlandia Foundation National
Capital Chapter invites members of
our Association to the Eight Annual
Kalevala Day Celebration to be held
Sunday, March 11, 1984 beginning at
3 p.m. at the Marvin Theatre, George
Washington University, 21st and
"H" Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C.
A donation of $4.00 is requested,
children under 12 free. Refreshments
are included in the admission and a
cash bar will be available. Program
features dancing, singing and kantele
playing. The GWU Club will also
cater a buffet dinner ($7.75 adults,
$5.75 children under 12). To attend
the buffet you must make reserva-
tions no later than March 6 by call-
ing 676-6610 or 676-6611.) "
Þorrablót 1984
Our Þorrablót will be held thís year
on Saturday, March 17th, at the Holi-
day Inn, 2460 Eisenhower Drive,
Alexandria, Virginia. Plans call for
the same type of event which has
been so popular in the past. Cocktails
will begin at 5 p.m. and dinner will
be served at 7 p.m. The traditional
foods have been ordered from
Iceland and we have booked Tr'o
Stefáns P., the seme Icelandic bar.d
whi'.h played for us last year. A
varie ty of other entertainment in ad-
dit on to the popular raffles is being
finalized. Plan on joining us for
socializing, singing and dancing un-
til 1 a.m. Tickets are $20 each for
members and $25 each for non-
members and guests of members.
Reservations should be made as soon
as possible. Those who wish to sit
together (at a table for 10 to 12)
should make arrangements when
ordering tickets. Please order your
tickets as early as you can as we must
have a firm count by March 9th. All
ticket orders by mail — no tickets will
be sold at the door.
The Holiday Inn has set aside a
group of rooms which will be
available to our members at a special
discount rate of $41 single, $46 dou-
ble. To make reservations please con-
tact the Sales Office, Holiday Inn,
2460 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexan-
dria, VA 22314 (Telephone 703 /
960-3400) and mention the "Icelandic
Association."
several sub-committees dealing with
particular areas of concern, more
volunteers are more than welcome.
You need no special knowledge or
qualifications to sit on a committee;
only concern and 8 - 10 spare even-
ings a year to attend meetings. We
have an opportunity here to make
our concerns known to those in
power; we should not let shyness or
apathy prevent us from doing so! If
you would like to sit on a committee,
you need only contact me to be ap-
pointed: Lee Brandson, 201 - 99
Dalhousie Dr., Wpg. R3T 3M2.
Phone 474-8243 days or 261-7833
evenings.
Since the inaugural meeting of the
Manitoba Intercultural Council in
September of 1983, the committees
and sub-committees have been form-
ed and preliminary investigations
have been made into various areas of
concern, and some recommendations
have been made to the government.
In general, we have seen very
positive response to our recommen-
dations, and among the more tangi-
ble evidence of this is the fact that the
various multicultural grant budgets
have on average doubled since last
year. As I have been in direct contact
only with the Education and Youth
committee, I will highlight here some
of the work done by this committee
in the last five months.
The Education and Youth standing
committee has established three sub-
committees, dealing with Heritage
Languages, Curriculum, and Youth
Development respectively. (The
Icelandic community has as yet no
represention on the Heritage
Languages sub-committee, and this
is one area where a concerned
volunteer would be especially
welcome.)
The Heritage Languages sub-com-
mittee is currently reviewing the
Manitoba Schools Act, and is looking
into specific recommendations which
would increase both the quality and
availability of heritage language pro-
grams in Manitoba schools. One
recommendation is that the heritage
language program be broadened to
include a heritage culture component
as well. (That is, one would not be re-
quired to teach just the language, but
could include the culture, history,
folklore etc. as well.)
The Curriculum sub-committee
has recommended that the De-
partment of Education conduct an
assessment of the implementation
and effectiveness of the current
multicultural curriculum in
Manitoba schools. It has also recom-
mended that a course dealing with
inter-cultural and cross-cultural rela-
tions be designed and made a com-
pulsory part of teacher training pro-
grams. It has also advised the Depart-
Continued on page 8
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