The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1945, Side 9

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
7
year were the Arbitrator and Peace-
maker. When their mediation failed
to settle a dispute, a judiciary committee
of five citizens was set up, two named
by each side together with a chairman—
if they could agree on one—if not, the
Reeve or Vice-Reeve presided. Their find-
ings were final.
Article eleven, deals with the con-
stitution of the general Council whose
executive was composed of the Reeve
or chairman and the four District chair-
men. If no candidate for Reeve got a
majority in the elections, then there
wasn’t a new Reeve—the old one car-
ried on for another year!
The Council discussed and dealt with
all welfare matters affecting the whole—
such as getting the area of the colony
extended; admitting to it persons of
other nationalities and promoting new
enterprises.
The final Article provides for amend-
ments to the constitution. Amendments
had first to be approved by the General
Council; then a referendum on them
was taken in all the districts—with
all of them voting on the same day.
'While the constitution nowhere de-
fines what shall be considered a forum,
it stipulates in a number of instances
that findings shall only be valid if
more than half of those entitled to
vote were present. This ruling affected
all elections and changes in the con-
stitution.
Sigtryggur Jonasson was elected first
reeve of the Colony. It carried on under
this home-made system of government
for twelve years, managing all its own
affairs, administrative, social and eco-
nomic.
Examination of the 18 articles of
government shows two notable omis-
sions in the ground they cover—the first,
no provision for punishment—either for
failure to comply with the regulations
°r for the breaking of the natural laws
of man—with the exception of the ne-
gative one of withholding the right to
vote. The colonists appear to have count-
ed on their unity of interests, their de-
pendence on one another, and the ten
commandments, rather than on force.
The second omission was in making
no provision for education. But schools
were already in operation at the time
the laws were framed and obviously
the Districts were expected to do as
they had been doing—establish their
own schools and distribute the cost
among those who used them.
As to why the Icelandic pioneers con-
tinued to administer their colony under
this constitution until 1887 when, actu-
ally as early as 1881, the extension of
Manitoba northward had taken in their
territory, the answer probably lies in
the fact that the Manitoba Munici-
palities Act of 1881 recognized already
existing municipal governments in the
new area as legal authorities. In fact
it wasn’t until a year after the amend-
ment of the Municipalities Act in 1886
that the colony brought itself into line
with practise elsewhere in the Province
by coming in as a fullfledged munici-
pality. District executive committees
were thereafter replaced by single coun-
cillors, the schools came under the regu-
lations of the Manitoba Education Act
and Canadian law replaced the by-laws
of the “New Iceland” republic.
In conclusion, let it again be empha-
sized that the need for law and order
by a people steeped in democratic tra-
dition was the motive—and the only
motive behind this establishment at
Gimli of an independent state by the
first Icelandic settlers in the Canadian
West.
As a measure evolved “by the people
for the people”, it stands alone and
without parallel in the record of pioneer
deeds.