The first permanent migrants from Iceland arrived in Canada in 1874 to work on the rail lines at Kinmount, Ontario.

[22][23][24] Former United States Consul to Winnipeg, Mary Speer, described Bardal as a "tireless advocate for strong Canadian-Icelandic relations.

From November 28–29, 2014, Johnson accompanied Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird on a bilateral visit to Reykjavik to discuss a variety of bilateral issues including responsible resource development, expanding the European Free Trade Association free-trade relationship, international security issues and the objectives of the Arctic Economic Council.

[26] In 1975, the Icelandic Government urged Canada to establish a 200-mile offshore fishing limit to protect itself from overfishing by foreign fleets.

The Foreign Minister of Iceland, Einar Aguisson, said "we sincerely hope Canada will establish an offshore limit of 200 miles".

[31] Under this trade agreement, Canadian exports to Iceland such as industrial products received tariff reductions.

A representative of the Icelandic government's Directorate of Labour said "It has moved slower than I expected, and that's bad, not the least for those who are unemployed, because time doesn't work for them.

[34] The favoured currency of choice was the Canadian dollar due to the closeness of cultural customs between Canada and Iceland.

Neither governments would comment and a speech by Canada's ambassador to Iceland was cancelled in March 2012, when the matter became more prevalent.

[35][36] Iceland has had direct shipping connections with the Canadian province of Newfoundland across the North Atlantic Ocean.

Eimskip, an Icelandic company, operates between Argentia, Newfoundland and Halifax, Nova Scotia to Reykjavík.

[43] However, Iceland Express has since sold to WOW air, which has regular flights from Reykjavík to Toronto and Montreal.

The embassy was established in May 2001 and is located on the seventh floor of Constitution Square Tower 1, an office building in the city's downtown.