The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2002, Blaðsíða 8

6
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 57 #1
totally different war against evil doing ter-
rorists set on destroying our Western civi-
lization, fundamental freedoms and way of
life. May God be with those who are fight-
ing this crucial battle on our behalf.
In late April I had the good fortune of
being able to take part in the annual meet-
ing of the INL in Vancouver B.C. Our two
memorable visits to Manitoba and New
Iceland places, in June (Independence Day)
and early August for the Islendin-
gadagurinn, the visits to Calgary for the
opening of The New Iceland Saga exhibi-
tion and the unforgettable visit to
Markerville where Stephan G. Stephansson
lived, as well as the visit to Edmonton and
the Nordurljos Chapter of the INL and
other visits once again confirmed to us how
strong the Icelandic heritage link is all over
Canada. We also felt it strongly in the east-
ern part of Canada, for example during our
numerous visits to Montreal, as well as
Toronto and Nova Scotia. This heritage
was celebrated during all of the year 2000
in a unique way.
After the USA, Iceland is Canada’s
closest neighbour and nearest European
state, geographically speaking. Due to eco-
nomic, cultural and geopolitical develop-
ments, trade relations between the two
countries are now developing rapidly. This
can to a large part be attributed to the new
Icelandic pioneers who have moved to
Canada in recent years, often temporarily,
and set up companies or subsidiaries, near-
ly exclusively in the eastern part of Canada.
These companies include fish processing
firms, high-tech production for the food
industry, software production, Icelandair,
as well as Eimskip the Icelandic Steamship
Company and Samskip, Iceland’s second
largest shipping company. The long await-
ed free trade agreement between Canada
and the EFTA-countries, including
Iceland, is certain to enhance this process
even further. I see it as one of my missions
while here to try to bring closer together
the Canadians of Icelandic descent and the
newly arrived Icelanders.
To all readers of the Icelandic
Canadian I would like to repeat that the
Embassy of Iceland in Canada is here to do
all it can to promote and strengthen further
the bilateral relations between the two
countries. In that endeavour it has been an
inspiration in the past months to find so
much warmth and positive spirit emanat-
ing from people of Icelandic descent all
over Canada. It is a source of great strength
and I am most grateful for it.
Please do not hesitate to visit us, if not
physically then at least at our home page
iceland.org/ca and also soon at iceland.ca.
To all of us I wish a peaceful and
happy new year 2002.

GIMLI
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