'Whisky war' with Denmark over tiny Arctic island ends peacefully with deal & More News Here

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has struck a historic deal with Denmark, settling a dispute stretching again 5 many years over a 1.3-square-kilometre island within the Arctic.

Joly and the Danish overseas affairs minister Jeppe Kofod signed an settlement Tuesday to divide Hans Island, an uninhabited rock located between Ellesmere Island, in Nunavut, and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

The island has been the topic of fifty years of diplomatic disputes between the 2 nations, because it sits within the territorial waters of each. 

Joly hailed the signing as a “historic day,” including that it ended the “friendliest of all wars” which concerned each nations leaving bottles of spirits on the island with little notes for each other whereas eradicating one another’s flags. 

After the signing of the deal, the overseas ministers symbolically exchanged bottles of spirits, with notes hooked up, to finish the “whisky war.” 

Joly mentioned the settlement implies that Canada and Denmark may each plant their flags “of the same colour” on the “small but important island in the Arctic.” 

She mentioned the dispute had occupied 26 earlier Canadian overseas ministers and its peaceable decision confirmed that nations can resolve territorial variations in “a peaceful manner.” 

In a pointed reference to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Joly mentioned the deal with Denmark had been struck “at a very important time in our history because we know that authoritarian leaders believe that they can … draw boundaries by force.”

In an extra reference to Russia, she mentioned by putting a deal “Canada and Denmark and Greenland are sending a clear message to other Arctic states” that disputes might be resolved by peaceable diplomacy. 

The settlement over the sovereignty of Tartupaluk — the island’s Inuit title — adopted session with Inuit individuals from each Nunavut and Greenland. 

They will preserve searching rights and freedom of motion on the island which has been a part of their searching grounds for hundreds of years. 

The deal, Joly confirmed, has additionally prompted additional negotiations on freedom of motion for Inuit residing in Greenland and Nunavut, to make it simpler for them to go to family and friends. 

The prime minister of Greenland, who additionally signed the deal, mentioned the “boundary on Tartupaluk … will signal the beginning of a closer partnership and co-operation between us in areas of shared interest and of particular benefit to Inuit.”

Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout mentioned she thought Hans Island must be formally renamed Tartupaluk.

“Inuit have long used Hans Island as a staging point for hunting,” she mentioned. “We are pleased that the rights of Inuit have been protected so that they can maintain free movement and their traditional way of life.”

Kofod mentioned the signing marked “a historic day.”

“We have discussed the sovereignty of Tartupaluk for more than 50 years. After intensified negotiations over the past few years, we have now reached a solution,” he mentioned.

“Our efforts demonstrate our firm common commitment to resolve international disputes peacefully. I hope that our negotiation and the spirit of this agreement may inspire others.”

The deal implies that Canada, for the primary time, shares a land border with Denmark. 

Asked if this might imply that Canada might now qualify to enter the Eurovision track contest, Joly joked that as a result of Canada now has “a border” with the EU, Canada might apply to affix the European singing competitors.

The dispute over the small island has led to good-natured jostling because the Eighties between Canada and Denmark over which nation rightfully owns it. 

In 1984, Canada planted a flag on the island and left a bottle of Canadian whisky. 

Later that yr, Denmark’s minister of Greenland affairs visited by helicopter, planting a Danish flag. He additionally left a bottle of aquavit, a Danish spirit, on the base of the flagpole and is reported to have left a be aware saying “welcome to the Danish Island.” 

In 1988, a Danish Arctic Ocean patrol ship arrived and constructed a cairn with a flagpole and Danish flag on the island.

Then in 2001, Canadian geologists mapping northern Ellesmere Island flew there by helicopter. 

In 2005, defence minister Bill Graham went for a stroll on Hans Island in a symbolic transfer. Every week earlier than he set foot there, Canadian Forces positioned a Canadian flag and plaque on the island, prompting a protest from Denmark, which known as within the Canadian ambassador. 

Both international locations then agreed to reopen negotiations in regards to the island, with former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen saying it was “time to stop the flag war.” 

The international locations agreed to refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice in The Hague for decision in the event that they could not attain a deal.

Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal mentioned Canada and Denmark share a wealthy and co-operative historical past, and “it is fitting, and only a matter of time, that an equitable solution like this was reached, based on both practicality and compromise.” 

The deal additionally resolved a disagreement between the 2 international locations on maritime boundaries on the continental shelf. 

Conservative overseas affairs critic Michael Chong mentioned the deal was “a demonstration of how countries who are upstanding members of our international system can work together to settle disputes around international boundaries.”  

“Few things are more sacrosanct in maintaining international order than ensuring that we respect each other’s international boundaries,” Chong mentioned.

After the deal was signed, Joly offered her Danish counterpart with a bottle of Sortilege Prestige, a Canadian whisky and maple syrup liquor made in Quebec, whereas minister Kofod offered Joly with a bottle of Gammel Dansk Bitter Dram.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed June 14, 2022. 

Marie Woolf, The Canadian Press

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