Lögberg-Heimskringla - 03.12.2004, Síða 8

8 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 3 December 2004
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Almar Grímsson, President of the Icelandic National League of Iceland, was the Parade Marshall at íslendingadagurinn in Gimli last summer.
Strengthenin
öntacts
and making new ones
Last year Almar Grímsson was elected the
President of the lcelandic National League
of lceland (Þjóðræknisfélag (slendinga) after
having served on the board since 1999. He
was re-elected at the Annual General
Meeting in Reykjavík in November. Steinþór
Guðbjartsson spent some time with Almar
in lceland.
The INL of Iceland, or
ÞFÍ, was established 65
years ago and it was
recently revitalized. “The
INL of Iceland was founded
on December 1, 1939 and was
very active for a number of
years,” Almar says. “It lived
through both good times and
a decline, and after 1980 its
activities dwindled steadily. It
was then revitalized in 1997
after a period of inactivity.
The first project was the
Snorri Program, and I often
refer to it as the single most
important activity that we
have implemented in recent
years. In fact the Snorri
Program is a cornerstone in
the succesful work of INL
Iceland.”
The importance of the ties
According to Almar, it is
very important to strenglhen
the ties between Iceland and
the people of Icelandic
descent in North America.
“To me this is like reunit-
ing a family,” he says. “Many
of us who belong to the third
or fourth generation of
Icelanders since the mass
emigration of 1870 - 1914
were only vaguely informed
about the history of the emi-
gration and the life, living
conditions and culture of the
Icelandic descendants in
North America. There is now
a new wave of interest, thanks
to many factors. The most
important, in my opinion, is
the Hófsós Emigration
Centre, which has given fan-
tastic possibilities for getting
new insight and information
in this respect.”
Vísit us on the web at http:llwww.lh-inc.ca