Lögberg-Heimskringla - 28.01.2005, Síða 12

12 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 28 January 2005
Helps identifying with Iceland
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
Vancouver, BC
The siblings Nina Joban
and Bjami Tryggvason were
born in Iceland, but their inter-
ests are wide apart. Nina went
to Florida to see her brother
Bjarni take off into space in
1997, but says that his fame
has not affected her. “He does
his things and I do mine — but
it was fun to go and watch the
shuttle go in 1997.”
Members of astronaut
Bjami Tryggvason’s family
have been and are active mem-
bers of the Icelandic Canadian
Club of British Columbia (ICC
of BC). “My brother Gus Tryg-
gvason got me involved in the
club,” Nina says. “He was very
much involved with the club
and got me to help out.”
Svavar Tryggvason from
Dalvík and his wife Sveinbjörg
Haraldsdóttir from Isafjörður
emigrated with their children
from Iceland to Canada in
1953. Nina was one of the chil-
dren and she has been active
member of the ICC of BC since
1969. Most of the time she has
been on the board and now she
is in charge of marketing.
The ICC of BC is the
INL’s largest club. According
to Nina, people usually start
getting interested in the club
and their roots when they are
in their 50s and 60s, and it has
always been hard to get young
people involved in the club’s
activities.
“There is not that much
for young people to keep them
coming,” she says. “The Van-
couver community is so spread
out that the young people of
Icelandic descent really don’t
know each other. They don’t
go to the same schools and
they don’t socialize in the same
circles.”
The board of the club orga-
nizes many events and it keeps
Nina busy. “We try to bring in
something of Icelandic cultural
interest and make it available
for the club members,” she
says. The club has been selling
T-shirts with Icelandic sayings,
the Icelandic llag and Icelan-
dic sweaters. “Something that
helps people to identify with
Iceland,” Nina says.
She adds that they work
with Walter Sopher in Edmon-
ton regarding Icelandic goods.
“We don’t have a store, bul put
these things out during special
occasions like the Scandinavian
Festival in the third weekend in
June and before Christmas,”
she says.
Greetings from
Heather Alda Ireland
Honorary Consul General of Iceland
940Younette Drive
West Vancouver, BC V7T 1S9
Tel 604-922-0854
Fax 604-925-2524
Email iceconsul@telus.net
Experience Ice
lceland & Paris
$1659 From Toronto
$1815 From Winnipeg
$2199 From Edmonton
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s1509 From Toronto
$1785 From Winnipeg
$1965 From Edmonton
All príces are perperson + faxes forlow season travel.
■ Return airfare. • Return airfare.
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PhoneToll Free: 1 800 661-3830
iceland@gctc-mst.com
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Visit us on the web at http://www.lh-inc.ca