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This monument in the Rural Municipality of Gimli commemorates the 100th anniversary of its founding.
In 1875, a group of Icelandic immigrants who had arrived in the Kinmount and Rosseau districts in Ontario, moved to the west shore of Lake Winnipeg where they had been granted a reserve of land by the Canadian Government. They arrived on 21 October 1875, creating the first permanent Icelandic settlement in Western Canada. Located beyond the boundaries of the fledgling province of Manitoba, the immigrants formed their own administration based on a centuries-long tradition of democratic government. Under Sigtryggur Jonasson’s leadership, the Republic of New Iceland was created and it continued until the formation of the Municipality of Gimli in 1887.
These settlers persevered under difficult conditions and many hardships. They faced heavily wooded land, floods, a smallpox epidemic and isolation. The first people the pioneers encountered were the Native inhabitants. Initially both groups were apprehensive but once the land rights were discussed and resolved, friendly relations developed between the two peoples. In this new land, the Icelanders leanred much from the Natives about surviving in the early years.
The first Ukrainian settlers came to the Interlake region in 1898 and established homesteads in the southwest portion of the Rural Municipality of Gimli. This became known as the Foley and Willow Creek districts and settlements soon extended north to the Dniester and Arnes area. The pioneers came with few worldly possession but they brought an historical knowledge of farming and deeply rooted religious and cultural values.
By perseverance through severe winters and other hardships, they laboured to transform homesteads, densely overgrown with trees and shrubs into arable land. They found the freedom they south in this land and became a lasting inspiration to others. In the early days, many of the new pioneers expressed their gratitude for the assistance received from individuals such as immigration agent Cyril Genik and John Heidinger, a local sawmill operator. The Ukrainian heritage has begun to make a lasting contribution to the Canadian culture.
When the RM of Gimli was established in 1887, the origins of the population recorded in the Manitoba census were: Icelandic 835, Scottish 31, English 7, French 1, Scottish Métis 12, French Métis, Swedish 1, and Danish 1. After 1903 these original settlers were joined by others fleeing the political instability, economic depression and the archaic feudal land system of central Europe. Groups of Polish, Ukrainian and Germany-speaking people from Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, came and took up homesteads in the northwest portion.
Plaques on the monument describe the farming, fishing, busines and industry, and the Gimli centennial celebrations.
Gimli centennial monument (September 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Gimli centennial monument (September 2020)
Source: Rose KuzinaSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.58091, W96.99817
denoted by symbol on the map above
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Rose Kuzina.
Page revised: 7 October 2020
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