The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1967, Síða 45

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
43
Manitoba’s New Iceland Region
Bv BALDUR H. KRISTJANSON, Deputy Minister of the Manitoba Development Authority
Prepared for the Centennial Issue of the Icelandic Canadian.
Having been given an opportunity
to contribute to this special issue of the
Icelandic Canadian, I thought it might
be appropriate to discuss the New Ice-
land region of Manitoba from the
point of view of a second generation
Canadian born of Icelandic parents,
who is a product of that region and
who finds himself retaining many of
his emotional roots in this area. I
thought it might be appropriate, in
part, because there must be many
readers of the Icelandic Canadian
scattered far and wide who would be
interested in a thumbnail sketch of the
region as it is today in terms of its
economic position, present and poten-
tial.
In so doing, I must begin with some
reasonable delineation of the geo-
graphic area under discussion. One
might think, of course, that this would
be easy — but it is not, simply because
Icelanders did not settle and remain
in one spot.
Technically we could say that New
Iceland, at the outset, consisted of a
strip of land on the west shore of Lake
Winnipeg, varying in width from
about 8 to 10 miles beginning from a
point near Winnipeg Beach and ex-
tending northward to and including
Hecla Island. But, at least -the second
generation Icelanders would think it
should extend westward to Arborg and
Vidir — to Lake Manitoba and Lake
Winnipegosis.
This is comparable to what has come
to be known as the Interlake Area of
Manitoba. I suggest that this is a more
meaningful delineation of New Ice-
land even though the Interlake is far
from being occupied solely by people
of Icelandic descent. It is more mean-
ingful because we, as an ethnic group,
find ourselves at home in this broad
area having had a major part to play
in its development from its earliest
beginnings.
New Iceland, thus defined, is a
region of great potential. Nearly a mil-
lion acres of good agricultural land
are yet to be brought into production.
Its fishing industry remains a signifi-
cant factor in the provincial economy.
Its recreation possibilities are only
now being fully appreciated. But it is
a region that has been misunderstood
due to an optimism about it in the
early years that could not be sustained
on the basis of the knowledge avail-
able at that time.
It is important to -bear this last point
in mind. The Icelanders shared with
other groups of settlers a belief that
this new land wa.s a land of great
promise. So they -took up their work
with a profound faith that the hard-
ships encountered were transitory —
that there would be, in a sense, a pot
of gold at the end of the rainbow. And
I for one am glad they had this dream
to sustain them in the early years for,
without it, life for them would have
become unbearable.
Dreams are, after all, the ultimate
reality. Only those who cannot, or
dare not, dream are forever doomed to
underestimating the expanding reality
that lies ahead. But it is also true that
dreams never provide a critical path
analysis — a detailed timetable of
necessary activity to achieve given
ends.