The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1964, Blaðsíða 42

40
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Autumn 1964
A Villijalmiir Stcfansson Memorial Library
The following is the pertinent part
of an article under the above heading
which appeared in the Lake Centre
News, of Arborg, Man., in the issue
of Friday, July 31st, 1964. In a way
the most significant fact about the
article is that it was published in a
paper the editors of which are non-
Icelandic, and that it was written by a
woman not of Icelandic descent. The
underlining in the article is ours. The
re-publication of the article in the
magazine may be accepted as endorse-
ment of the suggested project by The
Icelandic Canadian. The Icelandic
Canadian Club is already on record
in favor of a Centennial project as-
sociated with the name of Dr. Vil-
hjalmur Stefansson. —Ed.
This year, Gimli, Riverton, Arborg
and the rural municipalities must de-
cide on what shall be their centennial
projects. A limited amount of federal
and provincial grants is available to-
wards these projects. Gimli has been
seriously considering several projects,
the leading ones of which are the ad-
dition to the skating rink, something
we have needed for some years and
must have regardless, a memorial park;
and a library to house the books which
we hope will be made available to us
when the vote for the regional library
is held in October. The centennial
committee has not received the sup-
port it should have had, from the com-
munity and the organizations, and has
postponed a decision until fall. But
we do not doubt that each organiz-
ation and individual has realized deep
down inside that we must and will
have some project for our centennial.
We cannot let the rest of Canada
celebrate while we do not. Therefore
it is time for the uncommitted to start
thinking and commit themselves. It
has been made clear to the represent-
ative on the centennial corporation in
a recent letter, that the final decision
as to the project is fully in the hands
of the council, and no deadlock will
be broken by the corporation, whose
sole task is to approve or disapprove
of the suggestions.
Naturally our council wants to fol-
low the will of the majority. But what
is their will?
There is reason to believe that Ice-
landic people from outside of this area,
who are anxious to commemorate the
name of New Iceland’s most illustrious
son, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, would sup-
port financially a project big enough
to capture the imagination of the
world and to perpetuate not only the
memory of this man, but of all the
other sturdy pioneers who came from