Photo courtesy of The Intrepid Society, Winnipeg
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Photo courtesy of The Stefansson Collection of Arctic Photographs, Dartmouth University Archives
Photo courtesy of The Stefansson Collection of Arctic Photographs, Dartmouth University Archives
November 3, 1879 - August 26, 1962
Born in Arnes, Manitoba, before moving to the United States as a child.
Arctic Explorer, Anthropologist, Author, Harvard Instructor, “The Last Dogsled Explorer”
Frank Fredrickson
Photo courtesy of The BC Sports Hall of Fame
June 11, 1895 - May 28, 1979. Hockey Player, Pilot, Coach, friend of Albert Einstein. Captain of Winnipeg Falcons who won the Olympic Gold Medal, played for Boston Bruins and more. Hockey Hall of Fame 1958.
Sturla Gunnarsson
Born August 30, 1951
Film & television Producer/Director. Moved to Canada as a 7-year-old. Distinctions include Emmy and Genie awards, Academy Award nomination, and People’s Choice Documentary Award. Past President of National Directors Guild of Canada
Signy Hildur Eaton
Photo courtesy of The University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. The Winnipeg Tribune Fonds.
1913 - 1992
Philanthropist, Arts Patron and Icelandic Cultural Preservationist
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Bjarni Tryggvason
Photo courtesy of Nina Jobin
September 21, 1945 - April 5, 2022. Icelandic-born Canadian Engineer, meteorologist & NRC/CSA Astronaut, part of the Space Shuttle mission in 1997.
Awarded the Nasa Space Flight Medal & Order of the Falcon.
Laura Goodman Salverson
1890-1970
Pioneering Figure in Canadian Literature
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Photos courtesy of Professor Julie Salverson
Donald K. Johnson
Photo courtesy of Donald K. Johnson
June 18, 1935, Lundar, MB. Investor, Philanthropist. Investment Industry Hall of Fame, Order of the Falcon, key in changing Canadian tax laws. Eye Institute at Western Hospital, Toronto. Past President of Burns Fry, sat as Vice-chair of BMO Nesbitt Burns. Officer of the Order of Canada.
Margret Benedictsson
Sculpted by Erin Brown
March 16, 1866 - December 13, 1956
Activist, Writer, Editor. From Iceland to Dakota, then to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
She is credited with helping to bring Women’s Suffrage to Manitoba in 1916.
Kaillie Humphries
Olympic Gold Medallist & Trailblazer in Women’s Elite Sports, Calgary, AB
Photo courtesy of Kaillie Humphries
Kaillie Sigmundson was born on September 4th, 1985, in Calgary and raised amidst the rugged landscapes and vibrant sporting culture of Alberta, Canada.
Kristjan Fjeldsted Anderson
1866 – 1949, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Iceland/Peace River, AB
Kristjan was born May 22, 1866 on a farm bordering the Huita River in Iceland. His parents were Andres Andresson Fjeldsted and Sesselja Kiristjansdottir. Not much is known of his early years in Iceland. However, we do know he left at an early age (disappeared actually) on a trip to Liverpool with a load of horses. It has been speculated that he was escaping an arranged marriage. The family in Iceland didn’t know what had happened to him until the 1970’s when my uncle went to Iceland to trace the family.
Dr. Vigfus Samundur Asmundson, Ph.D.
1895-1974, Genetics, Poultry husbandry, Tantallon, SK, Davis, CA
Vigfus Samundur Asmundson (Vigfús Sæmundur Ásmundsson) had a distinguished career as a scientist conducting pioneering research in poultry science and poultry genetics. Many honors came to Professor Asmundson: the Poultry Science Research Prize, 1931; Borden Award in Poultry Science, 1942; National Turkey Federation Award, 1947; Davis Faculty Research Lecturer in 1947; an honorary LL.D. from the University of California, Davis, 1964; and the signal honor of the dedication of the Department of Avian Sciences building at Davis as the Vigfus S. Asmundson Hall, in 1970 (https://archive.is/1IGvy/image).
Arinbjorn Sigurgeirsson Bardal
1866-1951
Arinbjorn was tirelessly devoted to the cause of the Order of Good Templars. He joined the Icelandic Lodge, Skuld, in 1889. He first took office in 1908 and was Grand Chief Templar for over 25 years. He represented Canada in the international deliberations of the I.O.G.T in Norway (1914), Denmark (1920), London (1923), Philadelphia (1927), Sweden (1930) and Holland (1933)
Neil Ofeigur Bardal
1940-2010, Funeral Business/Cultural, Winnipeg, MB
Neil Ofeigur Bardal, the son of Njall Ofeigur Bardal and Sigridur Sesselja Johnson, was the product of two large Icelandic families. His grandparents were Arinbjorn Sigurgeirsson Bardal and Margret Ingibjorg Olafsdottir and Helgi Jonsson and Asta Johnnesdottir Johnson. Neil was born on February 16, 1940. His twin sister, Christine, was still-born. His father, Njall Ofeigur, who had served in the Militia during the thirties, had been enlisted into the Regular Force when war was declared in September, 1939. Njall was a captain in the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Regiment was sent to Hong Kong where he was taken prisoner by the Japanese on Christmas Day, 1941.
Margaret Jacobina Einarsdóttir Brandson Beck
Margaret was born on February 23, 1898 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Margaret’s parents, Einar and Sigridur Brandson, were among the earliest Icelanders to settle in Victoria. They came from the district of Mýrdalur, in Southern Iceland and emigrated to North Dakota in 1886 and then to Victoria in 1887. The Brandsons had six children (all born in Victoria). Mr. Brandson was the Superintendent of the Ross Bay Cemetery for over thirty years.
Richard Beck
Richard was very active in Icelandic and Scandinavian organizations. He was also the honorary consul of Iceland for North Dakota. He was invited to speak in Iceland on June 17, 1944, on the occasion of the founding of the Icelandic Republic. He was the president of the Icelandic National League of North America whic he represented in 1969 when Iceland observed the 25th anniversary of the founding of the republic. He also delivered two addresses to help mark the 1,100th anniversary of the settlement of Iceland in the summer of 1974 when he was again a special guest of the Icelandic government.
Stephan Vilberg Benediktson
B. 1933 06 22, Engineer/Business/Culture, Markerville/Calgary, AB
To many in the Icelandic-Canadian community, Stephan Vilberg Benediktson is commonly known for his close, familial association with the much-celebrated poet Stephan G. Stephansson. While Stephan is the grandson of the prolific bard, Stephan is also known and respected for his international successes in the oil and gas industry, his dedication to his family, and his many valuable contributions to the Icelandic community in both Canada and Iceland.
Kristjan Valdimar ‘Val’ Bjornson
1906 - 1987, Editor, Military, Statesman, Minnesota | Iceland
Kristjan Valdimar ‘Val’ Bjornson was born August 29, 1906 in the largely Icelandic community of Minneota, Minnesota. He was the second of six children to Gunnar B. Bjornson, who immigrated to Minnesota from Iceland as a boy in the 1870s and Ingibjörg Ágústa Jónsdóttir Hurdal, who immigrated to Manitoba in 1883. The household included his paternal grandmother Kristín Benjaminsdóttir, who didn't speak English, so Icelandic was spoken in the home.
Jón Bjarnason
Nov. 15, 1845 – June 3, 1914, Lutheran Minister, Educator, Iceland/Winnipeg, MB
Jón Bjarnason was one of the most influential leaders among the early Icelandic immigrants to Canada and the United States. He was also an almost constant source of controversy. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he entered the grammar school in Reykjavík in 1861, and graduated from the theological seminary there in 1869, receiving ordination in the Lutheran Church that year. After teaching school in Reykjavík for several years, he emigrated with his wife to the United States in 1873 at the suggestion of a former schoolmate, Pall Thorlaksson.
Kate B. Carter
1892 – 1976, Humanitarian/ Historian, Spanish Fork, Utah
Catherine Vigdus Bearnson was born July 30, 1892 in Spanish Fork, Utah. She is the daughter of Josephine Marie Christine Jensen (Mary Bearnson) a Danish emigrant and Finnbogi Björnsson (Tim Bearnson) an Icelandic emigrant. Kate was recognized for her work with a number of awards.