Stefan Jonasson Interview Part 5

Duration of Audio Clip: 4:29 

Transcription of Audio:

Stefan: And so, there were various attempts to merge the papers that were launched, none of which were successful. There were two or three attempts during the late 40s and into the early 1950s when various individuals in the community or groups in the community would discuss bringing the two papers together into one. The initiative was finally successful after the creation of the Canada Iceland Foundation, which had been created as an umbrella organization to raise both operating funds and capital for Icelandic community groups. 

Very early on, they were asked by Lögberg if they would help to raise capital to bolster the financial health of Lögberg. And the Canada-Iceland Foundation declined the initiative, noting that if they did that for Lögberg, they would have to do it for Heimskringla, they would have to do it for The Icelandic Canadian magazine, and they would have to do it for a variety of other entities. It was that decision not to raise capital for Lögberg, that forced the two newspapers into much more serious conversations about merger. And so, Dr. Paul H. T. Thorlakson and Gunnar Solmanson [Thorvaldson], Senator Gunnar S. Solmanson [Thorvaldson], met and began to organize to see if they could bring the papers together. They probably would have been unsuccessful, just like the earlier initiatives, except that the merger talks were joined by Stefan Hansen, who was the Vice President of Great West Life, and Reverend Philip Pétursson, who was Minister of the Unitarian Church in Winnipeg, the Federated Church, as it was known then. Those two individuals had been highly antagonistic. They had had a very public feud early in the 1950s over funding for private schools in Manitoba. And so, they were known to be antagonistic, but they were able to come to agreement on the merits of the merger of Lögberg and Heimskringla to form a single newspaper; Reverend Philip representing the Heimskringla side, and Stefan Hansen, representing the interests of Lögberg. 

Because of their public feud, they actually brought the credibility that if they could agree on the merits of this merger, it must be something worthwhile for the community. And so those four individuals primarily persuaded the shareholders of both newspapers and the Icelandic community that the merger would be a good thing. They also created the conditions whereby the editors of the newspapers could transition to new positions gracefully. So, Stefán Einarsson, the editor of Heimskringla, was able to announce his retirement after 32 years at the helm of the paper, while Einar P. Jónsson, who was the editor of Lögberg, having been in the seat for 22 years, was announced as the editor of the amalgamated publication. And so, the merger eventually came about calmly; actually, with a certain degree of fanfare, because it was felt like they were preserving the newspaper for at least another generation.