The Icelanders of Keewatin, Ontario
- Phyllis Smith
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Phyllis Smith
Continuing with the Icelandic Roots settlement areas we take you to a location in Ontario: Keewatin. A small community of proud and hardworking Icelanders called this place home.
When the editorial team brainstormed all the possible Icelandic settlements across North America for this year’s newsletter articles, Keewatin, Ontario, didn’t make the top ten list. It’s not surprising. Keewatin (1) was and still is a small community in Northwestern Ontario. Now part of the city of Kenora, Keewatin is situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba border, and about 208 km (129 miles) east of Winnipeg. It has a long and varied history, which I refer you to James Retson and the 1893 issue of The Colonist to learn more. (2)
The Icelanders who settled Keewatin and Kenora include a few Sigurdsons, which is my own connection. Magnuson is another significant name. There are also Sveinsons, Palmasons, Hermansons, Oddsons, and Bjornsons, just to name a few. (3) Their families and others connected to Keewatin appear in the IR database.
A source of employment for the Icelanders in Keewatin included the Lake of the Woods Milling Company. Some worked as fishermen on the Lake of the Woods, and some worked in the forestry and hunting industries in the broader area.
I can’t claim that Keewatin was ever a hotbed of Icelandic settlement. The community was small with some strong family connections. The Icelanders who settled here integrated well with their English, Scottish, Ukrainian, and French-Canadian neighbours, and yet they maintained their Icelandic culture.
It is the people who make an Icelandic community strong. There was no Icelandic church in Keewatin. Occasionally, a minister from Manitoba would visit, such as the Unitarian minister, Guðmundur Árnason (I64715). He would preside over services in Icelandic, once organized by my grandmother.
There were community picnics and other get-togethers where my mother remembers hearing the news, and perhaps gossip, spoken amongst the adults in Icelandic. My mom never spoke Icelandic, but exposure to the language meant she had a good idea of what the hot topics were about. I’m sure my 2nd and 3rd cousins who grew up in Keewatin have many more such stories of the Icelandic gatherings.
My grandmother also maintained a book cabinet, filled with Icelandic-language reading material—the Icelandic library. The local Icelanders were readers, and that cabinet made the rounds, appearing in the front rooms in various Icelandic households in town.
The Icelanders helped one another. Tom Johnston (aka Hafsteinn Sigurðsson; I186384) arrived in Canada as a boy in 1876 and was probably fluent in English by the time he settled in Keewatin in 1887. His name appears as the informant on many birth and death records from Keewatin, possibly as the intermediary between less fluent Icelanders and the local authorities. Tom was considered a Keewatin pioneer and one of the oldest residents at 94 years old when he died in 1959. (4)
A study of the Kenora Great War Project, the Municipality of Keewatin First World War Honour Roll, and the Municipality of Keewatin Second World War Honour Roll reveal the participation and the sacrifice of the local Icelanders in the community in service to their country. Those who lost their lives in WWI were often immigrants from Iceland. Their children served in WWII. (5)
Let’s not forget all the Icelanders who settled in the tiny communities in Canada and the USA. They were small in numbers, but they produced many proud Icelandic descendants, like me!
Sources
(1) Some pronounce Keewatin as Kee-Wah-Tn or Kee-A-Wah-Tn, but my mom, who was born and raised in Keewatin, pronounced it Kee-Way-Tn, and I am contractually obligated to follow suit.
(2) Retson, James. Kenora, A History: A Work in Process. Last Revised January 26, 2025. https://www.retson.ca/Kenora.pdf
The Colonist–Supplementary Number. Winnipeg: September 1893. Retrieved from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Rat_Portage,_Keewatin_and_the_Canadian_Lake_of_the_Woods._(IA_ratportagekeewat00unse).pdf
(3) Smith, Dorothy. “Icelandic Settlement in Keewatin, Ontario.” (n.d.). Icelandic Settlements in North America [website]. Retrieved from
https://www.allanjohnson.ca/settlers/documents/keewatin.htm : 27 Feb 2026.
(4) "Thomas Johnston, Keewatin Pioneer Died This Morning." (16 Feb 1959). Kenora Miner and News. [digital]. Retrieved from: https://listview.kenora.ca/LibraryNewsList.aspx?year=1959 : 22 Feb 2026.
(5) Kenora Great War Project. [website]. Retrieved from https://www.kenoragreatwarproject.ca/ : 27 Feb 2026.
Veterans Affairs, Canada. Municipality of Keewatin First World War Honour Roll. [webpage]. Retrieved from https://www.veterans.gc.ca/memorials/canada/municipality-keewatin-first-world-war-honour-roll : 27 Feb 2026
Veterans Affairs, Canada. Municipality of Keewatin Second World War Honour Roll. [webpage]Retrieved from https://www.veterans.gc.ca/memorials/canada/municipality-keewatin-second-world-war-honour-roll : 27 Feb 2026
