Lögberg-Heimskringla - 28.01.1994, Blaðsíða 1

( Lögberg ]
eimskringia
The lcelandic Weekly
Lögberg Stofnaö 14. janúar 1888
Heimskringla Stofnaö 9. september 1886
Inside this week:
Back to Canada ....................................2
Einar's Anecdotes..................................4
Scholarship winners................................5
A taste of export success........................ 6
Celebrating at Þingvellir..........................7
1108. Árgangur Föstudagur 28. janúar 1994 Númer 2
108th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 28 January 1994 Number 2
lcelandic
News
An unexpected catch
■ Catching seals is a rare
occurence for lcelandic trawlers,
but occasionally one 'joins the
party'. Then there is the task of
ousting the unwelcome visitor, as
neither seal meat nor hide are uti-
lized at this time. Full-grown grey
seals can be rather unfriendly and
therefore caution is needed.
Increase in foreign visi-
tors
■ More foreign visitors in Nov-
ember than ever before in that
month.
More foreigners visited lceland
in November than ever before, or
7,267. The year before there were
4,843 visitors; an increase of 2,400
or just about 50%.
Magnus Oddson, Minister of
Tourism, considers the increase
the result of marketing and adver-
tising efforts regarding visits to
lceland during the off-season. No
conferences or international meet-
ings were held during this month.
About 1,000 people had one
day stop-overs en route to the
U.S.A. With that number subtract-
ed the increase is still 27% as com-
pared to the year before. Foreign
visitors during the first eleven
months were 151,473 — an
increase of 13,474 over the year
before, or an increase of almost
10%.
Three lcelanders
cross Greenland's
ice cap
■ Three lcelanders completed a
trip across Greenland's glacial cap
last spring. Haraldur Örn Ólafsson,
Ingþór Bjarnason and Ólafur Örn
Haraldsson took off from a smal
village 'lsetoq" and travelled west
across the ice cap about 600 km
journey to Syðri-Straumfjörd. The
26 day 6 hour journey proved to
oe both a physical and mental
challenge. The first days were the
most difficult where they experi-
enced extreme weather, the type
that Greenlanders call 'piteraq'. In
spite of the difficulty, they carried
on, their only contact with other
human life being passenger jets in
the sky above.
Gunnur Isfeld

Johnson honored
the esteem in which he is
held, the room in the legisla-
tive building where the cere-
mony was held was crowded
with the movers and shakers
of Manitoba’s political and
business worlds, as well as
many represntatives of the
province’s Icelandic com-
munity. No one in the audi-
ence — which included two
former premiers, Duff
Roblin and Sterling Lyon, as
well as Gary Filmon —
would have quarrelled with
the appropriateness of the
award. As Mr. Filmon said:
“Dr. Johnson has always
been one of Manitoba’s
most dedicated contributors
and supporters. This award
is especially significant for
one who has always cher-
ished his Icelandic heritage.”
The Order of the Falcon
was created by King
Christian X in 1920, when
Iceland was still under the
control of Denmark, as a
means by which the govem-
ment in Reykjavík could
honor exceptional achieve-
ments by Icelanders, wheth-
er at home in Iceland or
abroad in the greater
Icelandic diaspora that was
created when emigration
began in the late 1870s.
Another Manitoban, Stefan
Stefanson of Gimli, received
the award last summer. The
standards required for it are
high, the qualifications rig-
orous and the membership
limited.
Dr. Johnson’s qualifica-
tions need no explanation
for most Manitobans. He has
been for years one of the
most highly respected people
in the province’s public life.
He is particularly familiar —
and a particular source of
pride — to Manitoba’s
Icelandic community; nei-
ther is he a stranger to
Icelandic groups and organi-
zations elsewhere, and even
a brief summary of his
career, barely touching on
the highlights, explains why.
Hewasbom inWinnipeg
of Icelandic descent but
spent most of his youth in
Gimli. Duririg the Second
World War he served as a
lieutenant in the Royal
Canadian Navy. After the
war he finished
his studies in
medicine and
took up practice
in Gimli, where
he is still missed
by many of his
former patients.
In 1958, he de-
cided to enter poli-
tics and was suc-
cessfully elected
to the legislature,
where he served as
minister of health
and minister of edu-
cation in the 1960s.
He retired to private
life before the 1969
election. In 1986 he
was appointed to
the position of lieu-
tenant-governor of
Manitoba, and he and
his wife Doris brought
grace and disctinction
to that office and
Government House
until 1993.
Throughout his career he
involved himself in commu-
nity activities both in the
Icelandic commun- ity and
society at large. Whether he
was serving as sailor, doctor,
politician or Queen’s repre-
sentative, he earned the
respect and affection of
those who came in contact
with him.
Dr. Johnson is a modest
man, but he can take great
pride in the achievement of
having been awarded The
Order of the Falcon. The
rest of us in the Western
Icelandic community can
also take pride in the fact
that as a group we can still
produce, as we always have,
people of such distinction
from our ranks. And we can
take heart from the fact that
in Iceland, so far away in
space and time for so many
of us now, that we are, as
Ambassador Einar Bene-
diktsson says, still thought
of as part of the family and
our achievements recog-
nized as being worthy of
recognition.
by Tom Oleson
The ach-
ievements
of George
Johnson, one of
North America’s
most distinguish-
ed Western Ice-
landers and one
of Mani-toba’s
most respected
and well-liked citi-
zens, were recog-
nized January 21 by
the government of
Iceland.
In a ceremony at
the Manitoba leg-
islative build- ing
attended by friends,
colleagues, country-
men and well-wish-
ers, Dr. Johnson
received the highest
honor the Icelandic
government can
award when he
received, the Order of the
Falcon from the hands of
Iceland’s ambassador to
Canada and the United
States, Einar Benediktsson.
It was a simple, brief and
moving ceremony. Premier
Gary Filmon, who is no
stranger to members of
Manitoba’s Icelandic com-
munity, made the introduc-
tions. Mr. Benediktson,
speaking with wit and
charm, outlined Dr. John-
son’s achievents and the rea-
sons he had been selected
for this honor and gave a
short explanation of the dis-
tinction that it bestows on
its recipients. Dr. Johnson’s
acceptanci speech —
excerpts )f which are
reprinted in this issue —
show once again the mod-
esty, humor and intelligence
that have marked his public
speaking throughout his
long career.
The Icelandic govern-
ment does not give out the
Order of the Falcon lightly.
George Johnson, however, is
eminently qualified to
receive it. As testimony to