The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1971, Qupperneq 36

34
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
WINTER 1971
(continued from page 31)
south route. Hundreds of ruins still
stand in Greenland as silent evidence
of this great tragedy. In the corridor
of one of the ruins, the skeleton of
Nordic man was recently found, prob-
ably that of the last living man in the
settlement whom no one was there to
bury.
How the final end came is not cer-
tain. Failure of trade monopoly, ad-
verse climatic change, the Black
Death, and the return of the Eskimo
to their former hunting grounds, were
among the principal causes.
Recent historical research indicate
the likelihood that Leifr Eiriksson
carried out his explorations in North
America about 990 A.D. See article by
Haraldur Bessason “Some Notes on
Leifr Eiriksson’s National Origin and
the Sources on Greenland and Vin-
land”, in The Icelandic Canadian,
Winter, 1965.
By the same token Eirikr the Red
may have been born in Iceland about
930 A.D. -ED.
NORTHERN CO-OPS
Agricultural Minister Sam Uskiw
says progress made by Indians and
Metis in northern co-operatives is
“nothing short of amazing”.
The co-ops formed to include fisher-
men, lumbermen and general store
workers.
At Island Lake, 310 miles northeast
of Winnipeg, fishermen at the Kee-
No-Sae co-op receive $1.50 an hour,
plus unemployment insurance during
the off-season.
The co-op covers 17,000 square miles
and employs 230. Last year, earnings
per fisherman were $1,033, total earn-
ings $180,775.
MAKING PROGRESS
Administration of the co-op is en-
tirely in the hands of local people,
under the watchful eye of an appoint-
ed supervisor.
As of mid-November, the fishermen
had caught 1,467,000 pounds of fish,
which is shipped to the Savage Island
plant for grading, and packing for
final shipment.
Helgi Johnson, formerly of Win-
nipeg and Gimli, and now of West St.
Paul, is one of the two Supervisors
from the Dept, of Co-op Development
who works directly with 'the Kee-No-
Sae Co-operative.