Arts & Culture
 Gimli is a community of largely Icelandic background, having been settled in the latter quarter of the Nineteenth Century by Icelanders coming to Canada to seek independence in a land of their own. They were granted a tract of land north of the Selkirk settlement, which was given to them by the Government of Canada, and which was called the Republic of New Iceland.
Later, these first settlers were joined by immigrants of other ethnic origins, notably Ukrainians, Poles, and Germans. These first immigrants gave their names, and the names of their places of origin, to areas of the district (Kreutzberg, Felsendorff, Dnister, Berlo). By then, the former Republic of New Iceland had separated into several districts that eventually became Rural Municipalities under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Province of Manitoba. Outlying areas of the Gimli district, which initially was too large to govern effectively from one central location, became what are today the Rural Municipalities of Bifrost, St. Andrews, and parts of the RM of Armstrong.
The Town of Gimli was incorporated as a separate municipal entity in 1906, and survived and thrived as such for 94 years. However, it became apparent that to have two local government bodies in such a small area was not an efficient way to do business, and in 2002 the Town of Gimli was formally annexed by the Rural Municipality of Gimli, with the amalgamation of the two communities becoming law at 12 Noon on January 1st, 2003. |
