Iceland’s president, first lady watch as nation’s flag raised at city hall
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2019 (2308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The blue-white-and-red Icelandic flag was raised at city hall Friday morning during a ceremony with Iceland’s President Gudni Th. Jóhannesson and Canadian-born first lady Eliza Reid.
Jóhannesson and Reid are in Winnipeg to attend the annual convention of the Icelandic National League of North America, which is marking its 100th anniversary.
There are about 16,000 members of Winnipeg’s large Icelandic community, and Jóhannesson used his speech to reference the common immigrant story of moving to a new land but remaining close to the heritage of the homeland.
“It makes us Icelanders proud (and) privileged to feel and sense that here in Canada and also the U.S., we have these descendants of Icelanders who immigrated, who cherish and value the connection with the old land, who cherish and treasure their cultural heritage.”
Jóhannesson said Iceland is a country of poets and he quoted lyrics from Bruce Cockburn’s One Day I Walk, which he said reflected the immigrant’s story: “One day I walk in flowers, One day I walk on stones; Today I walk in hours, One day I shall be home.”
A crowd of about 50 people gathered outside city hall for the morning event.
Flag raisings are a common occurrence at city hall but Mayor Brian Bowman noted it usually doesn’t involve the president of a foreign country.
Iceland’s presidency is largely a ceremonial role, similar to Canada’s Governor General, established in 1944 when Iceland became a republic and replaced the role of king. The post is occupied in four-year terms by a candidate elected by popular vote.
An academic and historian, Jóhannesson, 50, was elected in 2016 in the fallout of the Panama Papers scandal that tarnished the reputation of his predecessor, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, whose wife’s family business was found to have avoided paying taxes through the use of tax havens in the British Virgin Islands.
Jóhannesson said he and his wife will be spending the weekend in Winnipeg.
“We look forward to cherishing our heritage together in a positive and inclusive manner as we look positive towards the future.”
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca