His Excellency Pétur Āsgeirsson has had an outstanding academic and diverse career to prepare for this role in Canada. Born in Iceland, he studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Iceland and then went abroad to complete his education at the University of Stirling studying economics with the Scots.
He has a long and distinguished tenure in the foreign ministry of Iceland and was Consul General in Nuuk, Greenland before his Canadian appointment.
Interest in IT for schools, libraries and government has been a feature of his career as well as working on the financial side of Icelandic culture, including art, ballet, and opera.
His Excellency has already visited the “Western Icelanders” whose forefathers immigrated to what was to be Manitoba in the last part of the 19th century. Their descendants keep many traditions alive, including some now unknown in the home country. Recently, in reverse migration, a Canadian from nearby Ashton, ON, Eliza Reid, married to the President of Iceland, has become the First Lady of Iceland.