Lögberg-Heimskringla - 10.09.2004, Side 10

10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 10 September 2004
Iceland like a spiritual home
lceland’s Honorary Consul in Quebec is David
R. Franklin in Montreal. He started the lce-
landic Canadian Club of Quebec and was also
the founder of the Chinese Rotary Club in Mon-
treal. Steinþór Guðbjartsson met this busy
man at his office.
David Franklin is a lawyer
by profession, and Ice-
land and Icelandic mat-
ters are a big part of his life.
“Because of my work I am a fre-
quent speaker at different law
conferences all over the world,
and when the audience is not
interested in intemational trade I
speak about Iceland,” he says.
No Icelandic presence
From time to time since
1967 David Franklin has served
as a lawyer or legal advisor to
various Scandinavian consulates
in Montreal. He is an intema-
tional lawyer and has been
teaching various law courses at
Concordia University, including
intemational business law.
Since 1960 he has travelled
extensively to Scandinavia and
has been involved with the
Nordic community in many
ways. He served in different
Scandinavian organizations in
Montreal and says that he noted
that all the Scandinavian com-
munities but Iceland were organ-
ized. “There was no Icelandic
association, no Icelandic pres-
ence here,” he says. “Due to my
affection for the country I decid-
ed to organize a club. The chal-
lenge was to see if there were
any people of Icelandic descent
here and indeed there were.
Seven people showed up at our
fírst informal meeting in Sep-
tember 1999 and after I had
advertised a meeting in October
in the Montreal Gazette 18 peo-
ple attended and the club was
officially formed. I thought it
was really important that we
belonged to a family so we
enrolled within the INL and
since then we have been growing
and growing.”
President of a Chinese club
In 2001 David Franklin
became Iceland’s Honorary
Consul in Quebec and stepped
down as the president of ICC-Q.
He had organized the Icelandic
Millenium Celebration in Mon-
treal and had been president of
the club for two years. Some
might fínd it strange that a Cana-
dian not of Icelandic descent
would be so inuch involved in
another ethnic group, but he
points out that although it might
sound unusual it is not unique.
“You have people who are
not really of a certain ethnic
background but yet are very
much taken by the culture of the
country,” he says. “Although it is
unusual for a non-lcelander to
organize an Icelandic club, I am
also a founding president of a
Chinese Rotary club in Montre-
al. I often speak at different
Rotary clubs throughout the
world and then I speak about
Iceland. To me Iceland is like a
spiritual home.”
Go Falcons, go!
Team Canada keeps
memory alive
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Irvin Olafson, Ian Rentz, President of TCMI, Dan Johnson
and Manitoba Premier Gary Doer proudly wear replica Win-
nipeg Falcons jerseys.
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UNI Independent Associate
69 Briqht Oaks Bay
Winnipeg, Manitoba ^el. 204-253-8338
Canada R2M 2L9 Cell: 204-223-2220
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www.mts.net/~flcwin
Worship with us
Sundays 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Michael Kurtz
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Team Canada, wearing
gold-and-black replica jerseys
of the Winnipeg Falcons, who
captured the first-ever
Olympic gold medal in hock-
ey at the Olympic Games in
Antwerp, Belgium in 1920,
won against Team USA 2-1 in
the World Cup in Montreal
last week.
Hockey Canada has made
an agreement with Nike
regarding production of the
replica jerseys and they are
already on sale. The royalties
will go to the Canadian Hock-
ey Foundation. “Finally, the
Falcons have been recog-
nized,” Brian Johannesson
told the Winnipeg Free Press.
His father Konnie.was one of
the “golden” Winnipeg Fal-
cons. The paper asked who
won the opener of the World
Cup and then came the
answer: “The Winnipeg Fal-
cons, that’s who, and an Ice-
landic community that finally
saw its hockey ancestors hon-
oured.”
Because of this historical
event Hockey Canada organ-
ized a complimentary banquet
during the game tendered to
the Falcons Hockey Club in
the Team Canada Merchandis-
ing Inc. Building in Winnipeg.
Wayne Gretzky, Executive
Director of Team Canada, and
Bob Nicholson, Hockey
Canada President, adressed
the audience via video. They
stressed the importance of the
achievement of the Falcons
for hockey in Canada, the
team that built the foundation
by becoming the Olympic and
World Champions in 1920.
Manitoba’s Premier Gary
Doer congratulated the
descendants of the players, the
whole Icelandic community
and “those of us who are not
Icelandic but want to be Ice-
landic.”
Manitoba Moose owner
Mark Chipman said that a Fal-
cons’ banner would be raised
at a special occasion in the
new MTS Centre in down-
town Winnipeg this winter.
Dan Johnson told the story of
the Falcons and on behalf of
the campaign Falcons Forever
he gave thanks for the support
and recognition of the Fal-
cons.
During the second inter-
mission a replica jersey of the
Falcons signed by Wayne
Gretzky was auctioned and it
went for $1,399.
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