The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2001, Qupperneq 38

76
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 56 #2
Farewell to Svavar and GuSrun
Address to Svavar Gestsson and Gudru'n Xugustddttir on March 17, 2001
at the Arborg Porrablot
by David Gislason
Tonight belongs to Svavar and GuSrun,
they have been with us for two years now, and
soon they will be moving on to new duties
and challenges in the Foreign Service of
Iceland.
This is not so much a time to say good
bye, as they will be with us for some time yet,
it is more an opportunity for us to come
together to celebrate the good times we have
enjoyed with them. It is an opportunity to
acknowledge all that they have done to further
strengthen relations between Iceland, and the
descendants of Icelandic settlers here in
Canada.
The ties that we speak of are ties that
bound the hearts of those who left their home-
land in search of a new life in a strange and
unknown land, they are ties that remain
unbroken to this day. Svavar and GuSriin felt
this very strongly when they arrived in
Manitoba, and they have felt it wherever their
travels have taken them, across this great
country, Canada.
For us, it seems they have always been
there, these ties, it is part of what we are as
Canadians—Canadians with a proud
Icelandic heritage. We go through long peri-
ods of time when it seems enough to simply
be Canadian, coping with the complexities of
making our way through life. But just below
the surface, it is always there, the knowledge
that there is more to us, that we are connected
with our past. More than once I have heard
Svavar say that our people really did not leave
Iceland, they brought it with them when they
came.
I have thought about this, and have often
been amazed at the powerful influence a visit
to Iceland has made on people that I know,
myself included. I wrote a short poem on
another occasion, which talks about this
almost magical power, it goes like this:
The Ember
Beneath the ice a fire glows
And it bums with an ancient will.
The spirit of hope and purpose flows
And breaks forth from the surface chill.
And the spirit dwells in the hearts of those
Who left that mystic land.
It lingers at length in soft repose,
So far from the fjord-lined strand
It’s an ember that lives in all of these
That wear the ancient name—
And it only takes the slightest breeze
To fan this spark to a flame.
GuSrun and Svavar have truly been
"Iceland among us" these past two years, and
they been more that just a slight breeze fan-
ning the ember with in each of us. I know that
they came determined to make a difference, to
make a meaningful contribution, and that they
have done. They have put a tremendous per-
sonal energy into the millennium programs of
last year.
They have travelled this country from
coast to coast, and brought Iceland officially
to every part of Canada where Icelandic
descendants are to be found, and believe me,
we are everywhere.
According to Gu3jon Amgrfmsson, in his
book, "Nyja Island", it was just after midnight
of Aug. 5th, 1873 that the first organized
group of emigrants left Iceland for the New
World. These people, and those who would