U of W prof wins prize for cultural contributions

University of Winnipeg professor Ryan Eyford has nabbed this year’s Vigdís Prize, one of Iceland’s most prestigious awards of its kind.

Awarded annually by the Icelandic government, the University of Iceland and the Vigdís International Centre, the prize — worth six million Icelandic krona (C$67,000) — recognizes outstanding contributions to world languages and cultures and is presented this year in Reykjavík, Iceland, on Thursday.

“I was honestly shocked. I got the news in an email. First email I opened up in the morning back in July, and it was a very pleasant surprise,” says Eyford.

The honour dovetails with festivities this fall around New Iceland’s 150th anniversary — with the first wave of Icelandic newcomers arriving at Willow Island, just outside what became Gimli, in 1875.

Eyford, an associate professor in the University of Winnipeg’s department of history, where he teaches Indigenous and Canadian history, is the author most notably of White Settler Reserve: New Iceland and the Colonization of the Canadian West.

“My purpose in first undertaking the project was to put New Iceland into its proper context in Manitoba and Western Canada, so that inevitably involves thinking about relations with the people who were already there,” he says.

“I’ve been asked by people, like, ‘Have you had a lot of pushback (from New Icelanders)?’ But the reaction has mostly been, ‘I always have these questions; thank you for answering them.’”

Manitobans may have seen Eyford’s work at the New Iceland Heritage Museum in Gimli, for which he has helped to curate some exhibits.

One area, with text by Eyford, deals with the fabled life and legacy of John Ramsay, a Salteaux man of St. Peter’s band, who’s the subject of a William Prince song that also plays inside the museum.

Ramsay is credited with saving 75 New Icelanders from starvation and exposure and, for this, was honoured by early Icelandic leaders. But, as Eyford’s text also reflects, Ramsay himself advocated for recognition of Salteaux land rights after Icelandic settlers moved into their ancestral territory — a plea that was rejected by the government’s unelected legislators.

This rejection is consistent with the government’s refusal to honour many of the promises made by the treaties and Manitoba Act to Indigenous Peoples in the new province, paving the way for mass settlement by European newcomers.

Another section in the museum reflects on Canadian multiculturalism, with many of the province’s Icelandic organizations and programs buoyed by the federal government’s official adoption of multiculturalist policies in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Some of the (local) Icelandic leaders of the 1970s embraced multiculturalism. They couldn’t accept the idea of Canada as just English and French because it was important for them that the contributions of multi-ethnic Canadians also be recognized,” says Eyford.

Still, as he reflects, that era’s multiculturalist discourse has also come under more scrutiny here and across Canada in recent years for its perceived romanticization of the European settler experience.

Eyford says that this re-evaluation isn’t about self-flagellation during this milestone anniversary year for New Icelanders, but an honest appraisal of realities that might lead to a more inclusive vision of pluralism in Canada.

“We’re moving away from that old idea of the immigrants coming to a new world and a greater recognition that this is actually an ancient country and an ancient homeland,” he says.

“For the people who are descended from those New Iceland settlers, it’s central to their family story, and it’s part of who they are. So, anytime that we’re thinking about the past in an anniversary year like this, we’re also thinking about the future.”

The historian presents a public award lecture, titled Commemorating Colonization: New Iceland Anniversaries, during the award ceremony at the University of Iceland on Thursday.

Eyford says he’s also using the opportunity to treat himself to a small vacation in the Land of Fire and Ice.

“They just had a big dump of snow, so I’m not sure how that’s going to affect our plans. We’re going to be visiting friends and family and, weather permitting, we’re going to do some travelling.”

conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca