Lögberg-Heimskringla - 10.09.2004, Blaðsíða 5

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 10. september 2004 • 5
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Quebec
Ontario
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Ottawa

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Steinþor Guðbjartsson
Montreal, QC
The Icelandic Canadian
Club of Quebec (ICC-Q), cen-
tered in Montreal, was reestab-
lished in 1999 and is one of the
youngest members of the Ice-
landic National League of
North America. It is primarily
a social club with about 30
members but its newsletter
(www.inlofna.org/) is pub-
lished approximately eight
times a year and sent to about
80 people in the area as well as
to members of the Scandina-
vian clubs in Montreal and to
people on the INL e-mail list.
ICC-Q enjoys close asso-
ciation with the Icelandic
Embassy and the club Friends
of Iceland in nearby Ottawa,
and with the Icelandic Canadi-
an Club of Toronto.
Its activites include
þorrablót, a summer picnic in
connection with June 17 (Ice-
landic National Day) and July
1 (Canada Day), and
jólaglögg (Christmas party) in
December. “We have had 63
to 90 attending our þorrablót
which is a remarkable
achievement,” ICC-Q presi-
dent Susan Stephenson
(noricher@ca.inter.net) says.
She adds that the club is
active in the Scandinavian
community in Montreal, but
she is on the board of the
Canada Scandinavian Foun-
dation, a Montreal-based
national foundation that pro-
vides scholarships to students
continuing their studies at
Scandinavian universities.
“As yet, nobody has applied
for a scholarship to study in
Iceland, but hopefully we’ll
have such an applicant soon,”
Susan says.
The ICC-Q has a good
association with the Montreal
Gazette and suburban newspa-
pers, and promotes an aware-
ness of Icelandic heritage and
culture to the public. The club
offers its members Icelandic
lessons during the winter
months and the board mem-
bers sell some Iceland-related
goods for fundraising.
There are many Icelandic
students or emplóyees tempo-
rarly in Montreal and the ICC-
Q tries to keep in good con-
nection with them. “These
club members are quite tran-
sient but we enjoy the infusion
of young people,” Susan says.
The club benefits from
many cultural events in Mon-
treal like the Festival of Films
on Arts, the Intemational Film
Festival, and the Intemational
Jazz Festival. “Icelandic films
have been shown at the film
festivals and Sunna Gunnlaugs
performed at the Jazz Festival
in 2002,” Susan says. “Mon-
treal is a cultural city and we
promote our culture and her-
itage.”
The central area of the city of Montreal.
An Icelandic sticker
made the difference
When Susan Stephenson
was going to a dentist one day in
1997 she parked behind a car
with an Icelandic sticker on it.
She left a note on the car, saying
she liked the sticker and wanted
to know who the owner was.
This happened to be David
Franklin’s car. He called her and
asked: “Who are you? If there is
one of you there must be some
others,” he added.
This was the beginning of
the Icelandic Canadian Club of
Quebec in Montreal. David
Franklin was the first president,
but when he became an honorary
consul three yeais ago Susan
Stephenson replaced him as
president.
David R. Franklin
Honorary Consul
OF ICELAND IN MONTREAL
4141 Sherbrooke Street West
Montréal, Quebec
Tel: (514) 935-3576
E-Mail: dfranklin@franklinlegal.com
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