The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2009, Side 33

Vol. 62 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
75
Greetings and Welcome to Gimli
“Home of the Gods”
Address given to the Canadian Consul of Women, Manitoba
Branch on the Mother’s Day weekend, 2006
by Lorna Tergesen
The Gimli area has nurtured some
exceptional women over the years.
The first of these women were those
Icelandic Settlers who arrived in late
October of 1875. In fact, on October 21,
when a storm was raging on Lake
Winnipeg and the barges on which the set-
tlers were traveling were cut loose to drift
into the bay at Willow Island. These immi-
grants from Iceland had tried to settle in
the heavily wooded Muskoka district of
Ontario, but found that life there didn't
offer them what they had dreamed of. In
that settlement they had lost many of their
children to disease and they wanted to
make a new start. As most of these families
were from fishing towns along the coast of
Iceland, the large lake was a major attrac-
tion.
The hardships that these first women
endured are difficult for us to imagine
today. I want to mention two who have
been recorded in history for their outstand-
ing work. Aldis, or Mrs. Grimur Laxdal,
had been vaccinated and hence when the
small pox epidemic flared up she was the
only one permitted to cross the quarantine
line. She did so three times, once in the
winter walking to Winnipeg to get much
needed medical supplies. Because the trip
was so long she would sleep in the bush at
night. The other courageous woman was
Snjolaug Johannesdottir, who although not
vaccinated, entered homes during the epi-
demic and nursed the patients. Snjolaug
was also the midwife in the community.
These settlers had been offered a parcel of
federal land in the Keewatin district of
Rupertsland, just outside the province of
Manitoba. The site consisted of a narrow
strip that began at Boundary Creek in
Winnipeg Beach and went as far north as
Hekla Island.
The women on those barges faced
enormous challenges very bravely. One of
the women gave birth in a tent shortly after
arriving that miserable cold fall . She was
my great grandmother.
The Icelandic immigrants wanted an
education for their children and a school
was set up immediately, for they had come
to Canada to give their offspring a better
opportunity. Icelandic women were usual-
ly treated as equals in their marriages and
were quite used to being heard in their
communities. These first pioneer women
laid the foundation for their daughters and
granddaughters to follow. Likely the most
significant early action taken by Gimli
women was in the effort to attain the vote
for women. Thorbjorg Sigurdsson,
Margret Benediktsson, Kristjana
Thordarson and Steina Stefansson joined
forces with Nellie McClung, Lillian
Thomas, Cora Hind and Agnes Munroe to
work tirelessly to attain their goal. It was
on January 28, 1916 that they achieved
their dream, when women were granted the
vote. Premier Roblin was away and his
deputy Premier was Tom Johnson, (who
was of Icelandic descent and known well
by the women) brought up the ‘Vote for
Women’ issue in the Legislature. This gave
Manitoba the distinction of being the first
province in Canada to give women the
right to vote.
There have been exceptional leaders,
teachers and medical personal who have
come from these roots. In 1915, a home for
the elderly was established in the Icelandic
community. It was located in Winnipeg for
a very brief two years before it was moved