The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1954, Side 12

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The guest speaker at the Annual
Concert of the Icelandic Canadian
Club on February 23rd, 1954, was
Byron Ingemar Johnson, former
Premier of the province of British
Columbia. He has the honor and dist-
inction of being the first Canadian of
Icelandic descent to hold the highest
office in the gift of the people of a
province of Canada. The main part of
Mr. Johnson’s address appears else-
where in this number of the magazine
and requires no comment. But his
presence in Winnipeg at one of these
annual concerts, the press and radio
publicity and his personal attitude so
clearly stated in his more intimate re-
marks on and off the platform, do well
deserve some comment.
The moment the executive of The
Men’s Canadian Club of Winnipeg
learned that the former Premier of
British Columbia was coming to Win-
nipeg he was invited to address their
Club. Beside him at the head table was
Hon. D. L. Campbell, the Premier of
the province of Manitoba. Four Ice-
landers were asked to sit at the head
table and one of them moved the vote
of thanks to the speaker.
The day before the concert a compli-
mentary luncheon was tendered to the
honoured guest at the Fort Garry
Hotel. It was attended by thirty-five
representatives of the religious, educa-
tional, professional and business ele-
ments of the Icelandic Canadian group
in Winnipeg, including the presidents
of the three official organizations, The
Icelandic National League, the Ice-
landic Canadian Club and the Leif
Eiriksson Club. Four invited guests,
including Asmundur Loptson, the Lib-
eral Leader in Saskatchewan, unfortun-
ately were unable to attend.
At the concert which, as Mr. John-
son in his delightful modesty admit-
ted was not staged exclusively to hear
him, he prefaced his address by some
personal remarks in which he disclosed
his feelings towards the national
group of which he is a part. At the
same time he recalled the Common-
wealth Parliamentary Conference, held
in London in 1948, which he attended
as the representative of British
Columbia. He, in a line of other repre-
sentatives of the Nations of the Com-
monwealth, was presented to Their
Majesties the late King George the
Sixth and Queen Elizabeth, now the
Queen Mother. He felt justly proud
when the former Queen engaged him
in conversation and stated how delight-
ed Their Majesties were to meet repre-
sentatives of Canada and her people.
But to Byron the most enjoyable
part of the concert was downstairs in
the church parlor where light refresh-
ments were served consisting of Ice-
landic dishes and coffee. There he had
a chance to roam around and chat to
all and sundry in the most friendly
personal way.
During Mr. Johnson’s stay in Win-
nipeg he was interviewed by both the
daily newspapers and detailed reports
appeared in the press. Appropriate