Lögberg-Heimskringla - 31.10.1986, Blaðsíða 4

4-ALDARAFMÆLISÁR, FÖSTUDAGUR 31. OCKTOBÉR 1986
Ritstj órnargr ein____________
Vestur Islendingar og stjórnmálin
Af nýloknum bæja- og
sveitastjórnakosningum í Manitoba
sést að íslendingar eru síður en svo
dauðir úr öllum æðum á
stjórnmálasviðinu. (Sjá forsíðu)
Þátttaka þeirra hefur ávallt verið
nokkur en tiltölulega fáir hafa komist
í ráðherraembætti. Þetta er eðlilega
skiljanlegt þegar haft er í húga að
fjöldi þeirra í þessu fylki er ekki
mikill miðað við önnur þjóðabrot.
Þó var það árið 1967 að í
fylkisþinginu sátu fimm Islendingar
en heildarfjöldi þingmanna þá var 57.
Til gamans má bregða hér upp litlu
reikningsdæmi til frekari skýringar.
Árið 1961 var fjöldi Manitobabúa
tæplega 900.000 og segja skýrslur að
það sama ár hafi tala íslendiriga verið
nokkuð á 15. þúsund. Það ár hafa því
íslendingar verið eitthvað um 1.6%
af heildaríbúafjöldanum. Engin
ástæða er til að ætla að mikil fjölgun
þeirra hafi átt sér stað á árunum
1960-1967, a.m.k. ekki meiri en
annarra þjóðarbrota og því skal
það teljast sérstakt árið 1967 að fimm
íslendingar hafi seti Manitobaþing.
Engin stjórnmálasaga Islendinga í
Vesturheimi er til og því óhægt um
vik þegar kemur að því að kanna
þátttöku þeirra á því sviði. Það gefur
hins vegar auga leið að á fyrstu
áratugum íslensku byggðanna í
Manitoba hafa atkvæði Islendinga
vegið þungt og ðví má ætla að bæja-
og sveitastjórnarmenn í íslensku
byggðunum hafi lengi framan af
rekið ættir sínar til Islands.
En íslensk stjórnmálasaga í
Vesturheimi nær út fyrir Manitoba,
reyndar alla leið vestur að hafi.
íslendingar í Saskatchewan, í Vatna-
og Þingvallabyggðunum hafa
áreiðanlega látið sveitamál til sín taka
og víst er að nokkrir sátu þing þar í
fylki.
Hvað sem tautar þá er það alltaf
gleðilegt að sjá íslensk nöfn viðriðin
stjórnmál en nú er best að angra þá
ekki meir heldur gefa þeim næði til
að sinna sínum störfum. Eða eins og
segir í Guttakvæði: Nú er kvæðið
næstum búið, nú er sagan öll.
J.Þ.
Successful Tour by
Saga Singers
The Edmonton Saga Singers
The Saga Singers had a highly suc-
cessful tour in August. The 16
singers, director and accompanist
and two young violinists drove to
Wynyard on Thursday, July 30th.
200 people filled the community hall
and gave the singers a very warm
welcome.
After another day's drive, the choir
performed in the community hall at
Lundar, again to an appreciative au-
dience, many of whom remembered
most of the words to the songs. The
choir members were billeted in both
towns, and enjoyed sharing coffee
and goodies with the audiences. In
Lundar everyone visited the
outstanding local museum before
leaving for Gimli.
Once in Gimli the choir had a very
hectic schedule, but the members
were able to enjoy many of the Islen-
dingadagurinn events, visit relatives
and friends and feast at Amma's Kit-
chen or the Fish Fry at the dock.
Upon arrivel, the choir sang for the
residents at Betel. At least one
member of the audience recognized
most of the songs and sang in full
voice along with the choir. They
rehearsed in the high sehool gym-
nasium and then sang in the even-
ing's Celebrity Concert on the bill
with the Keflavik Male Voice Choir
and Heather Sigurdson Ireland. The
audience of 500 was most attentive.
in the blistering Manitoba heat and
enjoyed memories rekindled by the
well remembered songs. This perfor-
mance was undoubtedly the high-
light of the tour for the singers.
On Sunday and Monday the choir
sang 3 more times on the Festival
Stage in the park, always to large au-
diences. Their largest exposure was
during the parade where they sang
along the entire parade route — from
the back of a truck.
The choir especially appreciates
the organizational efforts of Gloria
Krenbrenk, the president, who ap-
plied for grants, corresponded with
the towns, planned the many pro-
grams, coordinated funding, trans-
portation, housing and many other
details. It couldn't have attempted
the tour without the professional
guidance of Geraldine Haythorne
Next year will see newcomers to
air services to and from Iceland —- for
the first time in some years, foreign
airlines will be operating regular
scheduled flights. For quite some
time, Iceland routes have been serv-
ed only by Icelandic carriers, or more
specifically Icelandair, who has had
only limited competition from Eagle
Air.
who demanded excellence and
worked hard to create a good concert.
Burkie Letourneau's piano accom-
paniment was an essential element of
the tour's success.
Quartet, duet and solo perfor-
mances were done by Shirley Thor-
valdson, June Parker, Joan & Randy
Pederson, Allison King, Fiona Ander-
son, Ninna Campbell, Shirley & Solli
Sigurdson and Lillian MacPherson.
Grant and Ryan Sigurdson played
Countries which are served by
Icelandic airlines have a legal right to
appoint one of their airlines to
reciprocate the favour. Thus the
West German airline Lufthansa has
now announced weekly scheduled
flights from Munich and Dusseldorf,
initially over the summer months on-
ly — the first time that the airline
operated regular flights to Iceland.
The privately-owned British Midland
Airways has also shown interest in
commencing flights to Iceland in the
coming year, and according to press
reports is investigating the
possibilities of daily flights from Lon-
don and possibly Glasgow.
British airlines have operated ser-
vices to Iceland before — between
1971 and 1974 British Airways (then
British European Airways) were ac-
tive on this route, but discontinued
services after the trial period was
over, as they proved uneconomical.
Other foreign airlines have also
three old time favourites on their
violins and stole the show whenever
they appeared. Special thanks are
due to Solli who emceed all the
shows.
Financial assistance for the tour
was received from the Dept. of
Culture, Government of Alberta, the
Edmonton Icelandic Society and the
Wynyard and Lundar Icelandic
Societies.
G.T.
Iceland
operated scheduled services to
Iceland but have terminated thém for
the same reason — over a decade ago,
Pan Am operated a stopover service.
en route from the United States to
Northern Europe. Northwest Orient
has had authority to fly to Iceland for
some years, but has not as yet utiliz-
ed it, and there are no indications
that it will do so in the near future.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
operated regular flights, and then
maintained a stopover service en
route to Greenland, but all services
to Iceland were discontinued in
September 1982. There do not seem
to be any signs of SAS recommenc-
ing the service: Icelandair has recent-
ly had discussions with Greenlandair
that the former handle flights on the
Copenhagen-Narssarssuag
(Greenland) route, with a stopover in
Iceland, but such an arrangement
would probably be considered if SAS
had any interest in the matter.
Lögberg - Heimskringla
Published every Friday by
LÖBERG - HEIMSKRINGLA INCORPORATED
525 Kylemore Ave., Winnipcg, Maniloba R3L 1B5
Telephone 284-7688
New Office Hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. - 3 p.m.
EDITOR: Jónas Þór
BUSINESS MANAGER: Caroline Darragh MAILING. Florence Wagar
REPRESENTATIVE IN ICELAND: Magnús Sigurjónsson
Umboðsmaður blaðsins á Islandi Skólagerði 69 Kópavogi, Sími 40455
Pósthólf 1457 Reykjavík
Typesetting, Proofreading and Printing — Typart Ltd.
Subscription $25.00 per year — PAYABLE IN ADVANCE
$30.00 in Iceland
— Second class maiiing registration number 1667 —
All donations to Lögbcrg-Hcimskringla Inc. are tax dcductible under Canadian Laws.
More Carriers to