The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1964, Blaðsíða 17

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
15
Extracts from address of Hon* Errick f* Willis
The following are extracts from the speech by His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor
of Manitoba, HONOURABLE ERRICK F. WILLIS, on the 75th Anniversary of the
Icelandic Celebration at Gimli Park, Monday, August 3rd, 19S4 and excerpts from
his remarks at the Banquet in the International Inn, Metro-Winnipeg, Wednesday,
August 5th, 1964.
We welcome today the Prime Min-
ister of Iceland, Dr. Bjarni Benedikts-
son, Mrs. Benediktsson and their son
Bjarni. We are honoured they are stay-
ing with us at Government House, and
each day I learn more about Iceland.
One half of those who left Iceland
came to Canada and of those, more
than fifty per cent came to the Prov-
ince of Manitoba.
We acknowledge, with thanks, the
great contribution made by these cul-
tured immigrants to Canada.
1 am happy to point out that persons
of Icelandic descent have achieved
many of the most important positions
in Canada—in ifihe judiciary, field of
medicine, as professionals in the other
professions, and also in the field of
politics.
In Canada we are all immigrants, or
sons or grandsons of immigrants. My
people left Ireland at the time of the
last potato famine and 1 think they
made a wise choice.
The girls from Iceland were beaut-
iful and the men were aggressive and
consequently they were soon assimilat-
ed into the fabric of Canada, to the
great benefit of our country.
I have been asked today to speak on
Canada. The first thing I should like
to say is that our best Canadians are
those who respect and honour their
racial background.
I feel that in the past we have failed
to speak out in regard to the fine
qualities of our country, and that as
a result we are not as well informed as
we should be, in reference to Canada.
We are a member of the British
Commonwealth of Nations, and as
such we become not merely a nation of
eighteen million people but, in ad-
dition, we form an important part of
the Commonwealth of Nations of
some six hundred million people.
We have the advantage of being a
pioneer nation—for ithe people of Can-
ada are either pioneers or sons or
grandchildren of pioneers. We have
not, therefore, gone soft in spite of
the fact that we are reasonably well
fed and constantly attending banquets.
The ability of our people to withstand
hardships was well exemplified in the
difficult period of the 1930’s when our
people successfully stood the test of
that depression with courage and de-
termination.
Law and order are well maintained
in Canada. Our courts, based upon tire
British system, have the full respeot
of the people. Our judges are carefully
selected and are appointed for a period
extending until they reach the age of
seventy-five years.
Our people have always been inter-
nationalists, and not isolationists.
Early in the life of our nation it was