The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2006, Side 14

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 60 #2
Bjarnason grew up in Winnipeg, where his
parents, Kenneth and Mildred, "never set
limits. I was raised to seize opportunities,
to have an absolutely full life.
"When I was really small, I wanted to
be a firefighter. My parents didn't tell me I
couldn't, but my mother took me to every
fire hall in the city; and we talked to the
firefighters. I came to realize it wasn't a
very practical vocation for me."
But law was. Bjarnason earned a
Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in polit-
ical science at the University of Winnipeg
(his thesis was on counterterrorism, but he
also wrote a history of the Winnipeg Fire
Department which the fire chief liked well
enough to have copies printed for all 600
members of the department; ultimately this
would lead to an invitation to write the
department's official history).
Bjarnason studied law at Queen's
University in Kingston. After articling
with one of Toronto's prestigious Bay
Street firms, he was called to the Bar of
Ontario in 1991 (and, he notes, "I also went
to the bar”).
It was while he was at the University of
Winnipeg that his competitive cycling
career began. "I got a note in the mail in
1985 saying a group was starting the
Manitoba Cerebral Palsy Sports
Association. Being a bit cocky, I rode off to
the meeting, which was taking place the
same day I got the letter. I suggested this
wasn't very well organized, but they asked
me to have patience, said they were just
starting, and then they invited me to go to
the Alberta Games a couple of weeks later.
So I went and raced, and watching was
Doug Wilton, coach of the Canadian
National Disabled Cycling Team. He told
me “Stop screwing around and get seri-
»
ous.
Bjarnason did, and went on to compete
in World and CanAm games and
Paralympics in Gits, Belgium; Hempstead,
New York; Seoul, Korea; Assen, the
Netherlands; and Barcelona, Spain,
"Competition," he says, "is part of my phi-
losophy of life. It forces me to improve my
performance." He also became national
president of the Canadian Cerebral Palsy
Sports Association (1990-93) and the asso-
ciation's international representative (1991 -
95).
Meanwhile, his career was advancing in
other areas. He worked as a program offi-
cer in the Secretary of State's BC/Yukon
office, as a staff lawyer with the BC Labor
Relllions Board, and as a freelance consul-
tant, providing legal services related to
non-profit society development and sport
risk management (i.e. “how to run a sports
program without casualties and/or law
suits), doing research, and providing mate-
rial to speakers. "People who give speeches
and presentations love to spice them up
with humor. I said, give me the topic, I'll
come up with the jokes."
He was also collecting a number of
honors, beginning with the Governor-
General's Medal in 1982, and including the
Terry Fox Humanitarian Award and the
Community Service Award, presented by
the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar
Association. There has always been a lot of
community service going on, including
chairmanship of the Disability Advisory
Committee of the Law Society of BC, and
work with the Law Society's Equity &
Diversity Committee, the Canadian Bar
Association's National Equality
Committee and Legal Research Section, the