Canada and Iceland celebrate 75 years of diplomatic ties with book exchange in Whitehorse

To commemorate 75 years of diplomatic relations, Canada and Iceland are doing a book exchange.

Yesterday afternoon, Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir, Iceland's minister of Culture and Business Affairs, gifted a collection of Icelandic children's books to Richard Mostyn, Yukon's minister of Community Services at the Whitehorse Public Library.

Gifting books is a big part of Icelandic culture. It's a tradition that dates back to the 13th century, according to Alfreðsdóttir.

"For Iceland, books are extremely important," she said.

Alfreðsdóttir said books are significant to keep alive the Icelandic culture, tradition and language.

"It's great that we are able to celebrate with the exchange of knowledge."

This Yukon public library book exchange is part of several happenings between the two countries this year.

Iceland representatives are visiting Nunavut and the Northwest Territories later this summer to give a similar book collection. The Canadian Ambassador to Iceland, Hlynur Guðjónsson, is gifting books by Canadian authors to public libraries in Akureyri and Reykjavik in northern Iceland.

Guðjónsson said this book exchange is meaningful for the embassy and the relationship between the two countries since there are 101,795 people who are of Icelandic descent in Canada according to the 2016 census.

"We share literature, we share culture and common interests and often believe in democracy and sovereignty. So it's quite meaningful as a celebration," he said.

As part of the Whitehorse gift exchange and the Arctic Arts Summit, both ministers Alfreðsdóttir and Mostyn read an Icelandic children's book, A Puffin Called Fido, to a group of pre-school-aged children.