From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Icelanders/Anne Brydon
As long as Icelandic Canadians remained a rural population or one comparatively isolated in the west end of Winnipeg, they were able to maintain a sense of themselves as a cohesive entity. Given that their numbers were small and they were well educated, they posed no threat to the mainstream society and experienced no friction. They proclaimed as their aim to adapt to the way of life of British Canadians while simultaneously preserving their own culture. Icelandic community leaders emphasized the two groups’s common northern European ancestry. Prominent English-speaking individuals were equally well disposed to Icelanders. The federal minister of agriculture in 1877 praised the rapidity with which they learned English, and J.S. Woodsworth, the influential founder of the CCF and proponent of tolerance during the years of mass immigration to western Canada, spoke highly of them, as did Governor General Lord Dufferin. At the end of World War I, when anti-German sentiment ran high, particularly among the British majority, Icelandic-Canadian leaders strove to dissociate themselves from the Germans. Although German and Nordic history has been intertwined, spokesmen continually emphasized the commonality of Icelanders with the English.
In general, relations with the larger ethnic groups have been cooperative, and although entrenched stereotypes may persist, they have had a minimal effect on social interactions. As markers of difference, such as language and religion, have diminished in importance, the rivalry between various groups has also waned. Historically in Manitoba’s Interlake region, Icelanders interacted with Ukrainians to a considerable extent, despite some mutual antagonism. The Ukrainians settled on unoccupied parts of the Icelandic territory, since Icelanders tended to cluster near the lake shore. Anecdotal evidence indicates divisions between the two groups to the extent that they conducted separate businesses in Gimli until well into the 1950s.
This interaction carries over into one explanation of the West Icelandic nickname for Ukrainians, Goolie. The origins of the term can only be guessed at, but rural folk etymology holds that it is a variation of Gallie or Gallician, the name for local Ukrainians. In this interpretation, Gallie and Goolie are thought to have been rhyming variants of each other. The urban explanation suggests a link to the hall of the International Order of Good Templars on Sargent Avenue in Winnipeg; it was the first of two temperance associations founded by Icelanders in the city. Unlike names that are slurs on ethnic identity, the term Goolie carries with it a certain affectionate humour.
As was the case when other European groups came to occupy native lands, Icelanders’ most problematic interactions were with the local Saulteaux and Cree. The northern part of New Iceland had been the gathering, hunting, and gardening site for the Sandy Bar Saulteaux, a group that may have separated from the Peguis– St Peters band in the mid-1800s. During the autumn and winter, they lived on the shore at Sandy Bar, just south of Icelandic River, and in the spring they moved inland to log cabins that they had built along the river. Although native claims to land given to other block settlements had been extinguished by Treaties 1 and 2 in 1871, the status of New Iceland was more ambiguous. When Lieutenant Governor Alexander Morris granted the territory to the Icelanders in July 1875, he assumed that the Sandy Bar Saulteaux would soon sign Treaty 5. In fact, they did not do so until the spring of 1876, when it became clear that the federal agents would not recognize them as a separate band.
The status of the territory’s northern boundary was the main point of contention between the Icelanders and the Saulteaux. The latter believed the boundary lay on the south shore of the river, but Ólafur Ólafsson built his cabin on the north, where Saulteaux John Ramsay and his family were re-establishing their own home. Indian superintendent J.-A.-N. Provencher supported Ólafur’s claim, but Ramsay fought to have his people’s title recognized despite Provencher’s interpretation and the recent death of his wife and four of his five children from smallpox. In 1877 he brought his grievances against the Icelanders to Morris. Although the surveyor general and the deputy superintendant of the Indian Affairs Department had agreed that, under the Indian Act, Ramsay was entitled to retain possession of his land, Morris and Provencher chose to suppress this directive until the number of new Icelandic immigrants precluded any relinquishing of land.
More recently, tensions between aboriginal peoples and Interlake fishermen have increased. In the mid-twentieth century, natives worked on Icelandic whitefish boats in the summer and trapped in the winter, but since the 1970s, as they have regained their independence, they have entered the fisheries themselves. This competition has strained relations with Icelandic Canadians and other long-established fishermen, who believe that the fisheries cannot support the increased numbers of boats. The degree of participation and the high quotas, together with an influx of bass, which compete for food with sauger and pickerel, have endangered the fisheries and the lake ecology.
