Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.10.2016, Page 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. október 2016 • 9
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I wish this book had been published fifty years ago. I feel that I’ve been waiting
that long for just such a book
to appear.
Over the decades, I’ve
heard a lot of “facts” about
the settlement of New Iceland.
Most of those facts have
been incorrect. Nobody was
deliberately lying. It was just
like the telephone tree game
we used to play in school in
which a sentence is whispered
into the ear of a student, then
that student whispers into the
ear of the next student, etc.,
until the last student announces
what sentence she heard. It
usually has nothing to do with
the original sentence. Ryan
Eyfjord’s book, White Settler
Reserve, takes many of these
local myths that have been
passed from ear to ear and
corrects them by describing in
detail what actually happened.
I’m grateful for Ryan’s
detailed explanation of where
the myth of the settlers creating
a republic came from. I’d heard
this many times, often at formal
events, but equally had heard
that it was not true. Nelson
Gerrard, for one, has tried to
debunk this myth. Now, with
the publication of White Settler
Reserve, hopefully people
will quit making this claim. In
Chapter 6, Ryan explains, in
detail, where this idea came
from, plus what actually took
place. He says:
“One of the most persistent
myths about the Icelandic
reserve is that, during its first
twelve years, it was a semi-
autonomous state called the
‘Republic of New Iceland.’”
Its origins can be traced to the
writings of Steina Jonasina
Sommerville, a women’s
suffrage activist and Free
Press journalist, who wrote
a series of historical articles
in which she claimed that,
during its early years, New
Iceland functioned “virtually
as a republic” and was a
“sovereign” or “independent
state.” What really was
happening was that, faced with
a lack of direction regarding
governance, the people in New
Iceland put together what they
knew about governance in
Iceland and in Ontario and did
the best they could to create a
set of workable municipal laws.
In local lore, there has
always been mention of a
mysterious individual, John
Taylor. He had an important role
in the settlement but, around
the coffee tables in Gimli, it
was never clear what that role
was. His daughter and niece
are mentioned in some articles
and books, one involved in a
romantic wedding, both young
women teaching in the first
years of the settlement, but no
one seemed to know anything
more about Taylor other than
fragments. The chapter on John
Taylor, his background as a
slave owner, his imprisonment,
his finding religion, his taking
on the role of intermediary
and leader for the Icelandic
settlers, is explained in enough
detail to round out both the
man and his role. It is obvious
that the Icelanders came
totally unprepared for what lay
ahead of them. They did not
understand the geography or the
society or laws of Canada and
desperately needed someone
who could communicate with
government officials.
The religious conflict
that split the community
has previously been written
about in a lot of detail. Ryan
approaches the split from the
economic situation and details
the struggle the settlers had
with flooding, poor weather,
distance from potential markets,
and, although he doesn’t say so
directly, it is clear that many
settlers thought their leaders
had made a poor choice in
the location of the Icelandic
reserve. However, how the
decision came about is much
clearer. It is here that I wish the
author would have provided
more detail, had described the
land and the difficulties the
settlers faced. From my own
observations, the choice of the
land for the reserve was a poor
choice. The settlers arrived in
1875. I was born in 1939. Sixty-
four years had passed but much
of the northwestern part of the
town of Gimli was still swamp.
Flooding occurred nearly every
year. He mentions that there
were hardships but I would
have liked to have had more
examples of what people faced
and what those who stayed had
to overcome. However, what
I would have liked would not
have been appropriate. This
is a book written by a history
professor that lays out and
defends a thesis about the
philosophy of the government
of the day and how it impacted
the settlers.
The conflicts in Ottawa,
the decisions in this distant
place, had profound effects
on the settlers. It was these
people who decided to create
reserves for both aboriginals
and non-aboriginals. It was
they who decided what land
would be granted and to whom.
This process and its effects
are explored. The complexity
and the roles of the various
individuals are made clear.
Every book about
the settlement includes a
description of Lord Dufferin’s
trip to the New Iceland.
However, these descriptions
seldom add any new
information. Lord Dufferin
came, said the Icelandic
settlers were wonderful, and
noted that they all had books.
The story has become a cliché.
Ryan explains some of the
behind-the-scenes activities
and why they happened. The
Icelanders were a small group.
They were considered desirable
by some decision-makers
in Ottawa “because of their
assumed resemblance between
Icelanders and Norwegians,”
but not everyone was as
enthusiastic as Lord Dufferin.
“John Lowe wrote an
exasperated private letter to
Icelandic agent John Taylor
at Gimli: ‘The Government
has been informed that the
Icelanders don’t work, that
they have not the habits or thrift
and industry, that they are not
agriculturalists, that they have
even neglected to catch fish at
their own doors.’”
There were doubts that the
Icelanders were white or that
they could be assimilated. Even
when I was growing up that
process was still taking place.
The idea of a reserve where
only Icelanders could settle
had long been abandoned, but
there still was a struggle among
those who wanted to keep the
Icelandic community separate
and pure while other people did
their best to assimilate. They
changed difficult-to-spell-and-
pronounce Icelandic names
to English-sounding ones
and learned to speak English
and adopt English habits.
Icelandic women went to work
in Winnipeg in English houses
where they not only earned a
living but learned how to be
English.
John Ramsay, as one
would expect, is mentioned in
a number of places. Although
Ryan doesn’t explore the
myth of his happiness with
how he was treated, he does
explain in some detail how
Ottawa’s taking Ramsay’s and
other natives’ land from them
came about. Also, Ramsay’s
repeated attempts to obtain
compensation are described.
The unflattering picture,
though, is not of the Icelanders
but of the distant government
that made decisions that
profoundly affected people’s
lives and that did it with little
real understanding of what the
effects would be.
I have, over the years, heard
comments made about the
government loans and how not
everyone paid back the money
they were given. Here, for the
first time, is a clear picture
about why the loans were made,
how they were made, by whom,
to whom, and the bitter conflict
that resulted when people had
to abandon the settlement.
Everyone who is interested
in the history of New Iceland
must read this book. It brings
together details forgotten or
never known by the community.
It helps put together the puzzle
that is New Iceland.
The language, in places,
is the language of academia,
but never enough to stop this
reader from reading. In spite
of some difficult sentences or
even paragraphs, the highly
complex relationships among
the settlers, between the
settlers and the government
and the local natives, are made
clear. Those relationships
were complex. I found myself,
sometimes, having to go back
and read a paragraph but it
was worth the effort. We like
to think that our ancestors led
simple lives, but the truth is
that their lives were anything
but simple.
I hope that every library
in Canada and Iceland orders
copies of this book. I hope that
it gets chosen for university
courses not just in history,
but in ethnicity, immigration,
governance, and many
others. The settlement was an
experiment and the settlers
were, in some ways, guinea
pigs. It’s nice to see someone
laying the groundwork for
an assessment of how the
experiment worked, why it
failed in many respects, and
why it ultimately survived,
although quite changed from
the original concept. No one
escaped unscathed from the
experiment.
And whatever you do, read
until the very last paragraph. It
will pull at your heartstrings.
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White Settler Reserve:
New Iceland and the
Colonization of the
Canadian West
By Dr. Ryan Eyford
Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016
272 pages
Reviewed by W.D. Valgardson
Victoria, BC
White Settler Reserve: A Review