From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Icelanders/Anne Brydon
The possible negative effects on the Icelandic community of dispersal across western Canada were in part offset by the publication of various newspapers and magazines. From 1875 to 1900 about twenty periodicals appeared in the Icelandic language; some, such as Framfari (Progress; New Iceland, 1877–80), lasted only a brief time, while others, including Sameiningin (Unification; Winnipeg, 1886–1964), issued by the Icelandic Evangelical Lutheran synod survived considerably longer. Most were supported cooperatively within the community, but some were privately funded.
Over the century since the first settlers arrived, various organizations intended to foster Icelandic identity and unity have been founded and then have disappeared as the original impetus waned. Currently, several groups form the institutional structure of the Icelandic-Canadian community. Since its establishment in Winnipeg in 1919, the Thjódraeknisfélag Íslendinga í Vesturheimi (Icelandic National League of North America, or INL) has sought to fulfil its objectives, which include promoting good citizenship among descendants of Icelandic settlers, strengthening cultural and kinship bonds with Iceland, and fostering cooperation among cultural groups in North America. It is a non-political organization, and at the peak of its strength it had thirty-two chapters. Today there are fourteen, nearly half of which are in Manitoba. Among its affiliates are the Hecla Island Heritage Society, the Sólskin Society, the Icelandic Heritage Association of North Dakota, and the Icelandic Language and Cultural Camp.
The Ströndin Icelandic Canadian Club of British Columbia owns Icelandic House, a bed and breakfast in New Westminster that houses the Sólskín (Sunshine) library. It also supports the Icelandic home Höfn (Harbour). The Stephan G. Stephansson Icelandic Society in Markerville, Alberta, operates Stephansson House, the homestead of a gifted poet honoured in both Iceland and Canada. The goal of the Hecla Island Heritage Society is to protect the memory of the island’s fishing village, which was broken up and its population relocated by the Manitoba government in order to establish a provincial park and pioneer village for tourists.
In 1993, after three years of planning, the INL was restructured and broadened in scope; it changed from an umbrella organization to an alliance of autonomous groups. Each chapter arranges activities such as socials and film nights or invites speakers to discuss aspects of Icelandic heritage. Occasionally the league will sponsor larger events, including the 1985 tour by writer and British television personality Magnús Magnússon, or specific projects, such as translating the first Icelandic newspaper in North America, Framfari. League membership shows greater participation by younger people in the urban than in the rural chapters. Complaints about a lack of democracy within the INL have for the most part been addressed, although the regional focus on Manitoba, particularly Winnipeg, is still a problem for other chapters.
The INL uses the Icelandic language in various ways: supporting travelling teachers, buying and distributing school books, producing language lessons for use in schools, and making financial contributions to the chair in Icelandic language and literature at the University of Manitoba, established in 1951, which is central to the community. Several INL chapters offer bursaries and scholarships to students, and many provide language classes. The INL published Tímarit Thjódræknisfélag Íslen– dinga í Vesturheimi (Journal of the INL of North America; Winnipeg, 1919–69), an annual documenting its activities. It also issued the first two volumes of Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson’s Íslendinga í Vesturheimi (Saga of Icelanders in the Western Hemisphere, 1940–42).
In 1938 younger people formed the Icelandic Canadian Club of Winnipeg as an alternative to Frón (a poetic term for Iceland), the local chapter of the Icelandic National League. Its major achievement has been publishing the English-language Icelandic Canadian Magazine (Winnipeg, 1942– ), a quarterly devoted to promoting literary works by Icelanders in North America and scholarly research into Icelandic and Icelandic–North American history and culture. Over the years, other club activities have included organizing lecture series, sponsoring language lessons, and providing university scholarships to students of Icelandic descent. During the 1980s it merged with Frón.
Íslendingadagurinn, the annual Icelandic Festival of Manitoba, has, since it was founded in 1890, been a time for public celebration among Icelandic Canadians. Until 1932, when it moved to Gimli, the festival took place in Winnipeg during one day in August. Originally, Icelanders would parade through the city streets to a local park, where they listened to poetry and political speeches in support of Icelandic independence and enjoyed sporting competitions. The festival’s content has changed over the years in response to community concerns. In 1969 it was expanded to three days in August and now includes concerts, dances, a parade, and various lakefront sporting activities. However, the traditional Monday program of formal speeches remains largely unchanged. The central symbol, introduced to the festival in 1924, is the Fjallkona, the Woman (or Maid, as the term is translated in Canada) of the Mountain. The Fjallkona, a poetic figure associated with nineteenth-century romantic nationalism, represents Mother Iceland, who speaks to her far-flung children in North America. Each year the festival board selects an older woman who has dedicated herself to promoting Icelandic-Canadian culture and honours her with the title.
To date only one museum has specialized in displaying items that illustrate Icelandic-Canadian history, although institutions such as nursing homes, Stephansson House, the Icelandic collection at the University of Manitoba, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa exhibit artifacts from their own holdings. The Gimli Historical Museum, opened in 1973, contained three display rooms devoted to the Icelandic, Ukrainian, and fishing history of the region. Artifacts of Icelandic origin included the log cabin of the first Icelander born in Gimli, the Fjallkona’s costume, and the Baby Spear, a thirteen-metre whitefish boat built for Sigurdson Fisheries by Riverton Boat Works in 1941. The museum was located in the harbourside building that once housed Gimli’s oldest business enterprise, the Gimli Fisheries; the Gimli Development Corporation, with help from the Icelandic Cultural Corporation, renovated the building. Unfortunately, it lacked adequate, controlled storage for its photographs and other materials. A new museum, the New Iceland Heritage Museum, and a new Icelandic Cultural Centre are currently being built adjacent to Betel Home in Gimli.
Finally, the Canada Iceland Foundation, established in 1957 and reorganized in 1973, raises and allocates funds for research into Icelandic culture and provides nine bursaries and scholarships annually to students of Icelandic descent. It does not organize social activities, but strives to foster and strengthen cultural bonds between Canada and Iceland.
