The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2009, Qupperneq 19

Vol. 62 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
61
traveling to and fromWinnipeg by road or
river. Over time an Icelandic community
began to form in Selkirk as people found
work there, and by 1901 approximately 700
Icelanders lived in the urban community.
They were one of the minority groups
within Selkirk, which had an influential
British majority and culture. Historical
accounts of the Icelandic pioneers in
Selkirk are limited, but it seems many of
the men worked as part of the fishing
industry, and or laboured at the sawmill,
while some raised dairy cattle. The
Icelandic community or settlement within
Selkirk is said to have been well established
by 1888. The railway between Selkirk and
Winnipeg had been in operation since 1883.
An Icelandic Lutheran church and congre-
gation existed in Selkirk, while Unitarians
living in Selkirk would have had to travel to
Winnipeg to attend church.
Winnipeg
The largest Icelandic community in
Manitoba, settled in the city of Winnipeg
and numbered approximately 4000 in 1901.
The Icelanders were one of several ethnic
minorities in Winnipeg among a large
British majority. Like many other ethnic
minorities in Winnipeg, they eventually
settled in one section of the city and were
able to establish a community within a
large urban centre. The community was
located in the west end of the city along
Sargent Avenue which some referred to as
the “Icelandic Main Street”. The Winnipeg
community began in 1875 and was estab-
lished through the first large influx of
Icelandic immigrants in 1876. Continued
immigration and migration within
Manitoba brought more and more
Icelanders moving into and out of
Winnipeg. As Winnipeg grew as a city, new
and varied opportunities for employment
arose for the Icelandic immigrants. This
urban experience was new, as most
Icelanders had emigrated from rural
Iceland as farmers and fishermen. The rail-
way arrived in Winnipeg in 1881 and the
Winnipeg boom soon followed. Winnipeg
was home to an active religious communi-
ty for both Lutheran and Unitarian mem-
bers.
The five communities posed different
challenges for the pioneer women who
lived in them. Who these women were and
how they responded to the challenges they
faced through educational activities make
up the findings of this research. These find-
ings are presented in the following seven
historical narratives.
The first narrative provides a very
human introduction to the findings by pro-
filing five Icelandic pioneer women. These
five women were chosen because they were
influential and present a variety of educa-
tional approaches across all five of the com-
munities studied in this research. These are
their stories.
Melting the Snow: Five Icelandic adult
educators revealed
The five women chosen to be profiled
here can be characterized as adult educators
for the many ways they facilitated formal,
non formal and informal learning opportu-
nities for their fellow Icelandic pioneer
women. This historical narrative describes
how each of the women helped organize
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