Canada and Denmark have reached an agreement to split a small uninhabited island in the Arctic, ending a nearly 50-year-old international dispute between two friendly countries.
The Canadian government issued a council order this week confirming the agreement with Hans Island. The government plans to announce the details on Tuesday.
Martin Breum, a Copenhagen journalist and Arctic expert, said government officials in Denmark had informed him about parts of the deal. He said the agreement shows that the two countries agreed to split the 1.3-square-kilometer rock almost in half.
A border separating the countries will follow a fracture on the island that stretches from north to south, Breum said.
“It’s not exactly a 50/50 fee,” he said. “They are sharing the island in two halves. One will be Canadian, the other will be part of Greenland which is part of the Danish kingdom.
“It’s a matter of a few percentages and the Greenland part will be a little bigger than the Canadian part.”
The Canadian government is expected to present the agreement on Tuesday, first reported by the Globe and Mail, as an example of how countries can peacefully resolve international disputes under the rules-based international order. The move comes as NATO allies unite on a united front against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Copenhagen journalist and author Martin Breum visits Hans Island in 2018. (Posted by Martin Breum)
Breum said that while the two governments will say it is a “fabulous deal”, it has taken “a long time to solve a very, very small problem”.
“This is an example of how even the smallest piece of territory can excite governments to the point that even allies have disagreed for decades,” he said.
The dispute over Hans Island dates back to 1973, when Canada and Denmark attempted to establish a border across the Nares Strait waterway.
“Beautiful … worthless”
Hans Island rises 180 meters vertically from the icy waters between Canada and Greenland. Both countries are exactly 18 kilometers away from the island, which allows them to claim the rock under international law.
Breum visited the island by helicopter in 2018 and describes it as a “beautiful and desolate” piece of history. He said the only artifacts out there are the remains of Canadian and Danish flags and banners that have vindicated their claims over the years.
“In fact, you hear the story right there,” Breum said. “Feel the closeness of both nations. And then to know that you are at the forefront of the 50-year-old conflict of international magnitude is really strange because there is nothing.
“It’s useless. There are no minerals, no oil in the water next door.”
Some international media have dubbed the dispute the “whiskey war” or the most “educated” of all territorial disputes.
The New York Times said that while other international disputes “may be ugly matters, handled with all the unpleasantness of a divorce, backed by military forces,” the disagreement between Canada and Denmark “would be better suited to a dinner than on a battlefield: reduced to BYOB “
Military vessels visiting the island during the 1980s planted flags and bottles of Canadian whiskey or Danish schnapps to vindicate their claims. This came to a sudden halt when both countries decided they had to resolve their differences as allies, Breum said.
The crew of the Danish warship Vedderen held a flag-raising ceremony on the uninhabited island of Hans in August 2002. (Polfoto / The Associated Press)
There were no significant moves on the record until 2018, when a multinational working group took over the matter, Breum said.
Michael Byers, a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia, has been calling for a peaceful settlement of the dispute for decades. He said the invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin created the “right time” for countries to finally resolve the issue once and for all.
It’s all a matter of symbolism
“The border doesn’t matter, except the signal it sends to the world that we can resolve our disputes in a friendly way,” Byers said.
Byers says the two countries decided to draw a line along a geological feature that can be seen in satellite images. He said border guards will not be present because it is symbolism that matters to both nations.
“It’s a novelty,” he said. “It is possible that this will become a tourist destination.”
Greenlandic Inuit have long used Hans Island as a resting place when hunting in the area, according to media reports.
Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) is the legal representative of the Inuit of Nunavut for the purposes of the rights of native treaties and the negotiation of treaties.
The president of the organization, Aluki Kotierk, said that “Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic is only possible through Inuit use and occupation.”
“The dispute between Canada and Denmark over Tartupaluk or Hans Island has never caused problems for Inuit,” Kotierk said in a statement to the media. “In any case, it is great to see that Canada and Denmark are taking steps to resolve this border dispute.”
Global Affairs Canada said that due to a media embargo in effect until tomorrow’s event, it is “politely declining” CBC’s request for comment on the deal.
Russia has planted flags claiming the Arctic region. A mini submarine launched a titanium capsule containing a Russian flag at the bottom of the ocean under the North Pole in 2007 in an attempt to reclaim the region’s oil and minerals.