The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Síða 25

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
115
free land (Dominion Lands Act 1872) in
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and
Manitoba’s population grew from 25,000 in
1871 to 610,000 in 1921 (Friesen,
1987/2000, p. 183, 511). Some of the new
settlers came from Iceland. They spread
across North America to Wisconsin,
Ontario, the Dakota Territory (which later
became the State of North Dakota in 1883),
and Nova Scotia. In October 1875, a group
of six Icelandic settlers in Ontario decided
to explore the West, especially the Red
River Valley. They selected a 36 mile strip
of land along the west shore of Lake
Winnipeg and they named this territory
New Iceland. In October 1875, 280
Icelanders arrived in Winnipeg and pro-
ceeded by flatboats to what is now Gimli,
Manitoba (Wolf, 1996, p. 4-8). Eventually,
the Icelandic immigrants who stayed in the
province were located in three main areas:
the fishing village of Gimli, the town of
Selkirk, and the City of Winnipeg and they
were eager to settle in to their new sur-
roundings; Thor (2002) recounts,
“Wherever the Icelandic immigrants chose
to assimilate and live, mixed with other
ethnic groups, their adjustment to North
American ways was faster and smoother”
(p. 5, 85). Thor (2002) specifically mentions
the work of most young women from
Iceland who found employment as house-
maids in the City of Winnipeg, although
the expression “young women” was per-
haps misleading, as in some cases the girls
were only fourteen. Overall, however,
these girls fared well (p. 86).
Generally, the isolation of the prairies,
sparse population, tough frontier condi-
tions and communities, limited feminist
networking (Prentice et ah, 1996, p. 113,
196). But, Icelandic immigrant women,
including Benedictsson, were very active in
community life and in their church. They
sponsored Sunday school and worked with
the poor and new immigrants from Iceland.
In 1877, the Icelandic Society was founded
in Winnipeg; reorganized in 1881, and
renamed The Icelandic Progressive Society
(Wolf, 1996, p. 7-8). And, in 1881, the
Icelandic Women’s Society was founded in
Winnipeg. Its purpose was to help those in
financial need and to provide support for
the development of good citizenship
among young and old alike. Raffles and
banquets were held and the monies raised
during these events were used in a variety
of ways: educational scholarships for
young women, financial assistance for
newly arrived immigrants, and a counselor
to help Icelandic girls find suitable places of
employment (Prentice et ah, 1996, p. 205;
Wolf, 1996, p.8).
Icelandic women who settled in
Manitoba, especially Benedictsson,
brought a belief in equal rights for women
from their homeland. Wolf (1996)
explained: “That Icelandic women should
be among the first in Manitoba to voice the
issue of granting women the right to vote,
thus, hardly comes as a surprise. They had
received the right to vote in church matters,
and the establishment of women’s clubs or
societies followed quickly whenever an
Icelandic religious organization was found-
ed.... Women in Iceland had been granted
the right to vote in municipal and congre-
gational (church) elections in Iceland in
1881, and, during the last two decades of
the nineteenth century, the issue of
women’s rights was hotly debated.” (Wolf,
1996, p. 8-9)
Meanwhile, in the east, in Toronto, in
1876, the Toronto Women’s Literary Club
was formed to address women’s lack of
access to the political process. The club
provided the environment for discussion
about women’s issues. One of their mem-
bers, Sarah Curzon, was associate editor of
Canada Citizen, a weekly temperance
newspaper. Curzon wrote a regular col-
umn in the paper about Literary Club
activities and the need for women’s suf-
frage. When in 1882, Ontario law gave the
right to vote on municipal bylaws to spin-
sters and widows, the Toronto Women’s
Literary Club disbanded, and the Canadian
Women’s Suffrage Association was
formed. Other women’s organizations
joined the cause for suffrage. The Women’s
Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
was established in 1890 in Manitoba and
endorsed suffrage. The WCTU was spear-
headed by a group of three Winnipeg
women: Dr. Amelia Yeomans, journalist
Cora Hind, and Mrs. Mark McClung, the