Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.07.1994, Blaðsíða 11

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 22. júlí 1994 »11
The lcelanders in Manitoba (cont a.)
and for Icelanders whose own forests
had completely disappeared,
The fírst instattment of
these people arrived on the
International last evening.
There are in att 285souls
in which number is
included 216 adults, 60
families, and 80 men. They
are a smart looking,
intettigent and excellent
people, and are a most
valuable acquisition to the
population of our Province.
Their Icelandic experience,
supplemented with some
experience ofour mode of
life, is quite suffícient to
give them that peculiar
off-hand manner of
over-coming obstacles,
and an energy of
character, which witt
ensure their success here,
and make the settlement in
very few years, one ofthe
best in the Province.
— Manitoba Free Press
an inexhaustible supply of firewood
and building materials seemed attrac-
tive. Finally, the government of
Canada offered them a degree of inde-
pendence which was quite striking,
but dependent on their settling in the
district of Keewatin, north of the
boundary of the postage-stamp
province of Manitoba.
The details of the settlement,
known as the Icelandic Preserve or the
Republic of New Iceland, depending
on who refers to it are quite unique.
The Icelandic settlers were given an
area about forty-two miles long and
about eleven miles wide, stretching
along the shores of Lake Winnipeg
from Boundary Creek at the site of the
present Winnipeg Beach to the
Icelandic river and including Hecla
Island. Only Icelanders were permit-
ted to settle in this area. The
Icelanders were guaranteed the use of
Icelandic as their official language in
perpetuity. English Criminal law was
in effect, but the Icelanders were per-
mitted to use their own civil law,
which they did, writing a charter that
was distinctly different from either
English or Icelandic law. It had, for
example, an elaborate system of social
welfare and support for widows and
the indigent. The franchise was
extended to all gainfully employed
men of good character over the age of
eighteen. All men over the age of
twenty-one years old, except for
school teachers and ministers of the
gospel were eligible for office.
The entire district was called
Vatnsþing, or Lake Country. The
republic was divided into four dis-
tricts, Víðirnesbyggð, Árnesbyggð,
Fljótsbyggð and Mikleyjarbyggð. The
districts operated independently for
the most part, but once a year on
Gimli
top photo
ca. 1906
Gary Doer,
Leader of The Official Opposition
Best wishes.

Room 141 Legislative Bldg, Winnipeg, Manitoba . R3C 0V8 1-800-282-8069
right
ca. 1942
March 11, they
met at Gimli to
discuss large prob-
lems and changes
to the constitu-
tion. The records
were kept in five
books. Book one
contained the min-
utes of meetings.
Book two con-
tained census fig-
ures, book three,
records of road
building, book
four, vital statistics
including births
marriages and
deaths, and book Ðve, records of land
transactions and land values. The
details of the constitution are quite
complex, but it was a remarkable doc-
ument for its day, containing provi-
sions for the support of widows and
orphans, the elderly and the unem-
ployed.
The myth of beginnings is impor-
tant to understanding the experience
of the Icelandic community. Other
prairie communities were named after
people (MacGregor, McCreary) or
old-country places (Balmoral, Sans
Souci) or Indian place names
(Winnipeg, Pinawa). Gimli, the site of
the first settlement was named for the
great Hall of Gimli in Norse mytholo-
gy. The elder Edda tells us that after
Ragnarök, when Fenrir kills Óðinn,
and the wolves Skoll and Hati eat the
sun and the moon, when Yggdrasill,
the world ash, is shaken, and the gods
are defeated in final battle, all the uni-
verse will retum to fire and sea. Out of
that will arise an island on which will
be situated the Great Hall of Gimli.
All the best of men, of giants, of gods
I am pleased to extend greetings on behalf
of the New Democratic Party Caucus to all
the organizers and participants in this year’s
Icelandic Festival of Manitoba -
✓
Islendingadagurinn.
Our rich cultural diversity is one of the
things which makes our Province a great
place to live and work, and our summer
festivals are a wonderful opportunity to
embrace each others’ culture.
and the creatures of outer darkness
will be gathered here. (It’s a tough
place to get into: only a few gods will
make it.) That post-apocalyptic vision,
is a perfect naming for people whose
homes have literally disappeared
under fíre.
Let me tell you the story as it is told
to children of the community. The
Icelanders left their homes because
erupting volcanoes drove them into
the icy sea. They travelled for months
in terrible hardship across the ocean.
Cont'd on page 12