Lögberg-Heimskringla - 10.05.2002, Page 2

2 » Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 10 May 2002
Editorials
Lillian Vilborg
Managing Editor
WlNNIPEG, MB
Do you think of yourself as
a Western Icelander? A
Canadian? An American? An
Icelandic-Canadian? An
Icelandic-American? . A
Canadian Icelander? An
American Icelander? Have I
missed a descriptive word or
phrase? Here at the paper we
prefer the term “of Icelandic
descent’’ or “of Icelandic ori-
gin,” to signify the person’s
heritage.
The correct term seems to
be a matter of dispute. The
term “Western Icelander” hit
the floor of the INL/NA
Convention in Minneapolis
when Elva Simundsson of
Winnipeg and Gimli said, “I
am not Vestur íslendingur. I am
Canadian. Some of you think
you’re American.” She went
on to say that Vestur íslendin-
gur sounded worse in English,
because then she thought she
had to be wearing a big hat and
cowboy boots.
This, of course, did not go
without response. Einar
Benedikstsson, former
Ambassador to the United
States and Canada, defended
the term, saying that it was
inclusive. He said that while
other immigrant nationalities
became hyphenated Americans
and Canadians, or simply
American and Canadian, lost to
their land of origin, Icelanders
referred to those in North
America as Vestur íslendingur,
Western Icelanders, thereby
seeing those who left as some-
how still connected to the old
land.
Mary Josefson of
Minneapolis said that she has
always referred to herself as a
Western Icelander and was sur-
prised to discover that this was
such a problematic term for
some people.
I myself first heard the
term when my parents came
back from their trip to Iceland
in 1968. “Do you know what
they call us over there?” my
dad asked, incredulity mixed
with pleasure in his voice -
“Westem Icelanders!” He did
view it as an inclusive term, a
warm embrace from his family
across the sea.
We did not adopt this term
holus bolus in our family, how-
ever. We were struggling with
a hyphenated identity, having
been in the habit of responding
“Icelandic” when asked “who”
we were. We figured people
knew we were Canadian and
wanted to know what was
behind our Canadian-ness.
This approach, saying you
were Icelandic when you were
really Canadian, became very
unacceptable and politically
incorrect. So then we moved
into hyphens. And now
hyphens aren’t really very
acceptable.
It seems to me that it is all
about context anyway. For
instance, I have heard it said
that people from Great Britain
and Ireland never refer to
themselves as hyphenated any-
things, but rather see them-
selves as belonging to their
new land thus making them
somehow more Canadian or
American. Yet, both Britain
and Ireland have extended citi-
zenship rights to their diaspora-
in North America and other
places. Now if you have a
grandmother that is Irish or
English or Scottish, you can
apply for a British or Irish
passport. And that passport
gives you access to all of
Europe. And this has happened
at a time when neither Canada
nor the United States cares if
its citizens are also citizens of
another country.
It would be interesting if
Iceland extended its citizenship
to Westem Icelanders. Then we
would indeed be Western
Icelanders.
What do you call yourself,
what term do you find prefer-
able or acceptable? In answer-
ing this question, you might
apply the three philosophical
questions that Páll Skúlason
posed in his after dinner
speech on Saturday evening in
Minneapolis:
Who are we as a collectiv-
ity?
What brings us together?
What might this some-
thing be?
What indeed. According
to John Matthiasson it is a
kind of dualism that marks our
identity as an Icelandic com-
munity, whether Canadian,
American or Icelandic. A need
for opposition, debate. If
that’s the case we are never
going to agree on what to call
ourselves!!
Letters to the Editor
MESSUBOÐ
Fyrsta Lúterska
Kirkja
Pastor Michael Kurtz
10:30 a.m. The Service
First Lutheran Church
580 Victor St., Winnipeg
R3G 1R2 Ph. 772-7444
Dear Editor,
Please find enclosed a
cheque- to cover the cost of a
one-year subscription to your
paper.
I recently read several
issues of your paper and being
of Icelandic descent found it
most interesting. My grandpar-
ents, Kristján and Guðný
Jóhannesson, came to Canada
from Iceland around 1900. My
mother Lillian was their only
child, born in Markerville, AB.
Minnist
BETEL
í ERFÐASKRÁM YÐAR
Argyle Transfer Ltd.
Specializing in livestock
transportation
Wally & Linda Finnbogason
Stonewall, MB
Wally 467-8822 Mobile 981-1666
Daryl 322-5743 Mobile 981-5460
Don 467-2018 Mobile 941-0498
I will look forward to
receiving your paper, with
thanks.
Mrs. Myra Currie
Pilot Mound, MB
Dear Editor,
In reply to Ed Eggertson of
Burlington Ontario, thank you
for your comment. It would
have more correct if I had used
quotation marks for “Food of
Love” because I took that
translation directly from the
notes on the jacket of Nanna
Rögnvaldur’s book Icelandic
Food and Cookery.
Thank you for your inter-
est and your comment.
Elva Jónasson
WlNNIPEG, MB
Til hamingju og
Takk fyrir
Congratulations and
Thank You
The winners of the two
Falcons sweatshirts have
been drawn. The names of all
those who donated to the L-H
Fund from January through
April were put into a hat, and
the following two people
won: Mrs. Laura Cam,
Calgary, AB and Sylvia
Isfeld, New Westminster,
BC. The winners will receive
their shirts in the mail.
Correction
The photograph of Siggi
Hall pictured on the front
page of Issue 15 was
taken by Vilmundur
Kristjánsson, not Kent
Bjömsson.
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