An agreement has reportedly been reached between Canada and Denmark over Hans Island, a 1.3 square kilometer rock located in the Arctic that has pitted the two states against each other for decades.
Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal confirmed that a formal agreement is due to be signed on Tuesday over jurisdiction over Hans Island. The deal is expected to lead to co-ownership of the uninhabited island. The territory would be shared between the Canadian island of Ellesmere, in Nunavut, and Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.
Minister Vandal told reporters on Monday that he was “looking forward” to signing the agreement and would attend the ceremony.
He stressed that “discussions have been going on for a very long time” and that “the most important thing is that we have reached an agreement”.
“I think it’s very positive given the current world situation,” he said.
Thanks to this agreement, Canada and Denmark could share a land border for the very first time.
The dispute over this small island has led to several good-natured games of bickering since the 1980s to determine which of the two countries gets the island.
In 1984, Canada planted a flag on the island and left a bottle of Canadian whiskey there. Later that year, the Danish Minister for Greenland Affairs visited the place by helicopter and in turn planted a Danish flag. He also left behind a bottle of aquavit, a Danish spirit. He also allegedly wrote a note saying “welcome to the Danish island”.
Then, in 1988, a Danish Arctic Ocean patrol vessel sailed to the island. The crew then built a pile of stones to which they added a Danish flag.
In 2001, a Canadian geologist responsible for mapping Ellesmere Island made a helicopter flight to Hans Island.
Finally, in 2005, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham went to walk on the rock in a symbolic gesture. A week earlier, the Canadian Armed Forces had gone there to install a flag and a plaque on the island, which had provoked strong reactions from Denmark, which had summoned the Canadian ambassador.
That same year, the two states agreed to relaunch negotiations. The Danish prime minister at the time, Anders Fogh Rasmussen declared that it was “time to put an end to this war of flags”.
The two countries had agreed that if it was impossible to reach an agreement, they would appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to resolve the case.
The island called Tartupaluk, in Inuktitut and Greenlandic, has been an Inuit hunting ground for centuries.
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