The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1964, Side 43

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
41
the tiny island of the north to form
their new home here, and to send forth
their sons to enrich Canada and indeed
all of America. Some of them have sug-
gested that a library and museum lo-
cated in the largest centre of New Ice-
land, but shared in every way by all
other communities of the area, would
be a most fitting centennial. A combi-
nation of all the centennial money for
this purpose would result in something
really memorable, and give all Ice-
landers a place of which they could be
proud, as well as providing a beautiful
library for all residents of the area.
Naturally, if such a building were
decided upon, and the regional library
comes to be a reality, part of the money
Would be used to build branch librar-
ies in other centres, to which books
Would be circulated.
Can we in the eastern Interlake
work together to such an extent? Or
does one community endanger a good
cause by asking the others to co-
operate? Icelandic people are known
for their individuality, their strong-
minded singleness of purpose, and
their basic honesty. They are a people
of whom Canada can be justly proud,
and a memorial of such a nature and
size would preserve their heritage here.
Can a non-Icelander who has made
herself aware of their basic nature, and
who has adopted this area as home,
persuade them to forget their strong
desires to remain apart as individual
committees, and work together to pro-
duce something really momentous for
1967? We have been told that we were
thinking too small—we have been told
of Steinbach Mennonite village, the
Ukrainian village. Can we hope for
a similar great project for the Icelandic
settlements? Vilhjalmur Stefansson,
though he only lived here a few short
months, brings our area to the atten-
tion of all who read about him in the
Encyclopedias of the world. He was a
typical Icelandic Canadian, and to
quote a review on his autobiography
in the Saturday Free Press, “it is for
one quality alone that he shall be re-
in embere cl: his ardent and in-
extinguishable desire for the truth”.
This alone makes him the most typical
of Icelanders, who cherish truth and
accuracy above all else. He showed the
world the Eskimo- and the Arctic as
it really is, and in so doing, performed
a most valuable task for his native
Canada, whose future lies in the great
North. This man is of us—by using
his name and perpetuating his story,
we can share his glory. Shall we do
it?