Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.08.2004, Blaðsíða 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 27. ágúst 2004 • 5
Destination
fyM*
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, one of the best-known landmarks in Canada, has three buildings: the Centre, East and West Blocks. The Centre Block, the main
building with the distinctive Peace Tower, houses the chambers of the House of Commons and the Senate.
Friends of Iceland
the youngest club
PHOTO COURTESY OF GERRY EINARSSON
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Ottawa, ON
The Friends of Iceland
(FOI) is the youngest club
within the Icelandic League of
North America (INL/NA). It
was established on March 19,
2002 and Gerry Einarsson,
who was the main force behind
the club, has been the president
from the beginning.
About 20 years ago the
first Icelandic-Canadian club
was established in Ottawa.
Bjarni Guðlaugsson and
Kristján Gunnar Anderson
were instrumental in getting it
going. “We had about 100
members but when Bjarni
moved back to Iceland a year
later the club collapsed,”
Kristján says.
People of Icelandic
descent were very much
involved in the celebrations in
2000 and Gerry Einarsson got
them going. He went to the
phone book, picked out Ice-
landic names and called them.
He also contacted the Toronto
club and got hold of those who
lived in Ottawa. The club now
has about 50 to 60 members
and is growing steadily.
The club has a website,
http://hrafninn.wetcan-
vas.com/, runs a yearly
þorrablót and has picnics in
June. “They are well support-
ed,” Vice-President Lou
Howard says. He adds that just
outside of Ottawa people raise
Icelandic horses and Icelandic
sheep. “These farms give us the
opportunity to have picnics in
exciting places,” he says.
Ottawa
UNITED
CTATfS
AtUmtíc
Oeian
Nestled on the banks of the Ottawa, Rideau and Gatineau
Rivers, Ottawa, Ontario is the heart of Canadian political
life. In 1857, Queen Victoria was asked to settle a dispute
between Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Kingston and
Ottawa as to which city should be named Capital of the
Province of Canada (made up of Upper and Lower Canada
which consisted of parts of today’s Provinces of Ontario and
Quebec). Queen Victoria chose the City of Ottawa as the seat
of the new government. Work immediately began on the new
Parliament Buildings on Barrick Hill (henceforth to be Par-
liament Hill) and between 1859 and 1866 the Centre, East
and West Blocks were built. One year after their completion,
Ottawa became the Capital of the new Canadian Confedera-
tion, composed of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and parts
of present-day Quebec and Ontario.
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