(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Wednesday that former Liberal minister Carolyn Bennett would become Canada’s new ambassador to Denmark.
Mme Bennett resigned Tuesday as MP for Toronto-St. Paul, paving the way for his new diplomatic appointment. She will replace Denis Robert, ambassador in Copenhagen since 2021.
Carolyn Bennett represented this Toronto riding for over 26 years; on this, she was a minister for around ten years.
Mme Bennett was Canada’s first Minister of State for Public Health, in the government of Paul Martin, from 2003 to 2006. Later in the government of Justin Trudeau, she was notably Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, and more recently, since 2021, Minister responsible for Mental Health and Addictions.
Mme Bennett left the cabinet last summer after informing Mr. Trudeau that she did not intend to run again in the next election. She delivered her farewell speech in the House of Commons last month.
The “Whiskey Wars”
Canada’s relationship with Denmark is based on their membership in the NATO military alliance and their shared values when it comes to human rights and freedoms.
Greenland, an autonomous territory that remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark, is a frequent topic of conversation between Copenhagen and Ottawa, given the large Inuit population on both sides of the Baffin Sea.
In 2022, the two countries also resolved a fifty-year-old “whiskey war” over the uninhabited Hans Island, between Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, and northern Greenland.
For years, the two countries have traded rights to the 1.2 square kilometer island by planting flags and bottles of alcohol – Canadian whiskey and Danish schnapps, respectively. They eventually signed a treaty dividing Hans in two, creating a small international land border on the islet.
Canada and Denmark described the out-of-court settlement as an example of strong diplomacy within the broader issue of Arctic sovereignty. Both countries are members of the Arctic Council.