On December 3, Auðbjörg Halldórsdóttir, presented her letters of credence to Her Excellency the Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon, as Iceland's Ambassador-to Canada. Ambassador Halldórsdóttir’s educational background is in broadcast journalism, and international relations and affairs. She earned an M.A. from Boston University and pursued further studies at the University of Iceland in business studies, marketing, international trade, and public administration. From 2001

Photo of Vernon White by Trygve Ringereide Vernon White spoke “off the cuff” for an hour and a half at our January Distinguished Speaker Event, and we would all have been happy to hear him continue for much longer! Although he had prepared some slides, it was his trove of anecdotes, facts, and statistics at the tips of his fingertips, that kept us all enthralled. He told us about his early years as the son of a coal miner in Cape Breton, his life in the police service, his ri

Norwegian Ambassador Hanne Ulrichsen second from right . Photo courtesy of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ottawa Everyone seemed to be smiling at our Christmas lunch, as you can see in the photos. With over 60 attendees, a very festively decorated room, and a particularly delicious turkey dinner, it was no wonder! We were delighted that Norwegian Ambassador Hanne Ulrichsen and Ms. Julia Peho, First Secretary for Economic Affairs of the Finnish Embassy (on behalf of Ambassa

Our CNS group was all smiles Around twenty CNS members turned out for a very rewarding private tour of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum on November 24. I had visited the Museum a couple of times over the years, but I certainly never got as much out of those visits as I did out of this one, thanks to our wonderful guide, Karen Kriekle. It amounted to a course on the history of aviation in Canada with many of the actual aircraft that were involved in milestone events on dis

The Canadian Nordic Society was well represented at the Finnish Independence Day Celebration held at the home of the Ambassador on December 4. The photo above was taken by our President, Trygve Ringereide, and shows, from left to right, Mirja Kapsalis, CNS member and President of the Canadian Friends of Finland Ottawa, Ambassador Korteniemi, and CNS Councillor Raija Hilska.

Ambassador Hanne Ulrichsen We were very pleased that Her Excellency Hanne Ulrichsen, the newly appointed Ambassador of Norway, was able to join us as guest of honour at our Christmas lunch. As is my usual practice with new ambassadors, I am including some information about her background in this newsletter. Her Excellency Hanne Ulrichsen, the newly appointed Ambassador of Norway, holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Oslo. Specializing in securit

Left to right, Marian McLennan, Jan Huus, and Hilde Huus On November 3, members were treated to an excellent talk on AI and birding. Mr. Huus has an extensive background in computer science and as an avid birder. With three other scientists, Jan has developed and published a scientific paper, through the University of Alberta, entitled HawkEars: - a regional, high-performance acoustic classifier.  To the layman’s ear, this sounds very complicated, which it is, but Jan explain

Dear Friends, Christmas is a time of joy and appreciation of family and friends. It is also a time of reflection on the year past and planning and anticipation of the new year ahead. As members of the Canadian Nordic Society, we have spent many happy hours together in various settings, including our regular monthly luncheons, Distinguished Speaker evenings and special occasions in our annual calendar such as the midsummer celebration and our Christmas luncheon, which we just

(Left to right, Raija Hilska, Mirja Kapsalis, Ambassador Korteniemi, Trygve Ringereide) `Her Excellency Hanna Leena Korteniemi, Finland’s Ambassador to Canada gave a spirited and very well received talk to members of the CNS and Canadian Friends of Finland on October 15. She covered a lot of ground in terms of the current geopolitical climate, discussing Finland’s approach to security and defence on its own and also in partnership with the other Nordic countries and as part o

Photojournalist Kristine Nyborg was our Distinguished Speaker on September 17 and what a great storyteller she turned out to be! Pictured...

Our Nordic midsummer evening is a wonderful opportunity to mingle with people we know and also to get to meet others for the first time....

Some tiny ones in their bunads were happy to wave their Norwegian flags The weather looked far from promising for the 17 mai (Norwegian...

Photo of Ambassador Harris courtesy of the Danish Embassy His Excellency Nikolaj Harris, Ambassador of Denmark, set the tone for his May...

Left to right, Jerry Jones, Raija Hilska, Trygve Ringereide, Hilde Huus, and Angie MacCrae with a few items from Koti 28 (photo by Marian...

H.E. Signe Burgstaller on the bottom step. Mr. Bendiksby on the floor, H.E. Hlynur Guðjónsson (Ambassador of Iceland) behind him, H.E....

The 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first organized migration of Norwegians to North America on board the Restauration  in 1825...

Her Excellency Hanna-Leena Korteniemi presented her credentials to Governor General Mary Simon at a ceremony at Rideau Hall on January 7,...

Several CNS members were in attendance at the November 20 Beechwood Cemetery ceremony and reception commemorating the historic 80th...

On Tuesday, December 10, Ambassador Nikolaj Harris presented his credentials to Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor...

Kenn Harper On Thursday, November 20th, Kenn Harper took to the podium for a second time in the history of CNS, this time, to provide a...