Sturla Sigurjonsson

At a glance, Canada and Iceland may not appear to have much in common.

But a visit this week from Iceland’s Ambassador to Canada will show the relationship between the two countries runs deep.

On Friday, Sturla Sigurjónsson will give a public lecture, “Mutual Interests in the North: Iceland and Canada in the 21st Century,” about the shared political and economic interests of Iceland and Canada.

“Ties between Canada and Iceland go back over a thousand years to Leif Eriksson’s landing on the coast of Newfoundland,” explains Leah Bradshaw, Professor of Political Science. “Today in Canada, there are almost 100,000 people with some Icelandic heritage. Apart from these historic links, Canada and Iceland share a mutual interest in the development of the North, a key initiative of the federal government of Canada.”

Sigurjónsson began his career in the Icelandic foreign service in 1987 and has since served in various positions at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Reykjavík and at bilateral and multilateral missions abroad, including the UN, NATO, and the EU.

He was appointed Ambassador of Iceland to Canada in September 2014.

Sigurjónsson’s lecture is presented by the Department of Political Science and the Council for Research in the Social Sciences. It runs from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in AS201

For more details on this special presentation, contact Leah Bradshaw.