McG
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I'd rather see a hockey rink placed in the middle of the island. We could have an annual tournament, and the winner would fly thier flag for the year. ;DHans Island rock concert floated
Greenland official pitches musical solution to territorial battle
Armando D'Andrea
National Post; with files from The Canadian Press; CanWest News Service
July 27, 2005
TORONTO - Greenland's vice-premier is hoping a concert on Hans Island's barren turf can defuse the "primitive" political muscle-flexing between Canada and Denmark.
Josef Motzfeldt said he believes the disagreement over who owns the tiny rock between Greenland and Ellesmere Island can be resolved by inviting Canadian and Greenlandic musicians and officials to the island for a concert next summer.
He said this would be a more civilized way to address the conflict after last week's visit to the island by Canadian Defence Minister Bill Graham and military personnel, which Motzfeldt called "an occupation" and out of place in the 21st century.
"It's too primitive to come to an island with the military," he said. "I say we try to (resolve) it in a more civilized way. Some representatives from Canada, some Canadian authorities to join us if we can make a concert on the island. Why try to destroy the good neighbour (relations) that have taken place over history?"
Sovereignty of the three-kilometre island has been declared by both Canada and Denmark for years, with each taking turns planting flags on the island to confirm their claim.
The issue came to the fore again after last week's unannounced visit by Graham and his entourage, followed by Denmark's reply with an official letter of protest to the Canadian embassy in Copenhagen.
In Edmonton on Tuesday, Graham was making no apologies for the diplomatic tiff.
"We'll talk to the Danish people about their position, but our position has always been clear: It's Canada, and I went there just as I would have gone anywhere else in the Arctic."
Motzfeldt said any questions over sovereignty could also be resolved by a geological study to determine under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea whether the island was part of Ellesmere Island or Greenland.
Greenland has been a self-ruling territory since 1979, but Denmark continues to oversee many of its administrative and government functions.
Foreign Affairs Canada spokesman Reynald Doiron said Motzfeldt's idea of resolving the matter with a concert was "an interesting one." But he said Canada has never acted in a primitive fashion on this matter.
"It's been treated in an almost gentleman-like manner by both countries, by both governments," he said. "(The disagreement is) there, but it's no matter to go on the warpath."
He disagreed that Graham's visit was tantamount to an occupation.
"Occupation of what, I don't know," said Doiron. "We have said over and over again for the last several years that Hans Island is part of our territory ... Any Canadian federal official going there is going to our own piece of land. Therefore it's not an occupation."
Doiron also expressed reservations about Motzfeldt's idea of geologically settling the problem, saying in his view the only way the matter could be resolved is through direct negotiations or arbitration.
Thoughts from the ambassador of Denmark to Canada:
Nobody wants Hans Island to sour our warm relationship
Canada and Denmark work closely together in many areas
Poul E. D. Kristensen
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Canada and Denmark are neighbours in the North, allies in NATO and in the United Nations working closely together for peace and democracy in challenging spots such as Afghanistan, the Middle East and Sudan. Indeed we are close friends in relations across the board. Canadians of Danish origin are numerous. Cultural and commercial exchanges flourish between us.
In the North the Inuit populations of Greenland and Canada have communicated for centuries. Their oral languages are nearly identical. Denmark is in the final phase of opening an honorary consulate in Iqaluit, making it the first country to be represented on the spot in Nunavut.
As in every real, substantive friendship there are also tiny irritants like the territorial ownership of Hans Island. Such issues need to be dealt with deftly to strengthen the friendship.
The government of Denmark considers Hans Island to be a part of Danish territory. This should be of no surprise to anyone following developments from time to time in this case of disputed sovereignty. It is generally accepted that Hans Island was discovered in 1853 by an expedition carried out in agreement with Danish authorities, and with the participation of the famous Greenlander Hans Hendrik of Fiskensset. His place in the expedition earned Hans Hendrik a place in the history of exploration and the island was named after him -- "Hans /" (Hans Island).
Since then it has been our view that the island, by virtue of its belonging to Greenland, is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Relevant evidence in connection with defining the area of Greenland, such as geological and geomorphological studies, clearly supports this point of view.
In 1933, when the Permanent Court of International Justice declared the legal status of Greenland in Denmark's favour, the court did inter alia refer to the note from the British government, acting on behalf of Canada, which in 1920 assured the Danish government that it recognized Danish sovereignty over Greenland.
Therefore, when Canada in 1971, during negotiations with Denmark on the maritime boundary between Greenland and Canada, laid claim to the territory of Hans Island it was the first time the government of Denmark was officially informed about this. We did not reach an agreement at the time and since then our two governments have agreed to disagree.
In order to settle the dispute in a mutually acceptable way, the Danish government has repeatedly declared its willingness to resume consultations with the government of Canada at an appropriate time. This invitation is still very much open. In the view of the Danish government, Canada and Denmark have every reason to pursue an already fruitful co-operation on Arctic matters and we should not let the issue of Hans Island become a stumbling stone in this process.
Let me give you a recent example of co-operation in the North. A unique project between Canada and Denmark was launched as late as June this year. In Ottawa a memorandum was signed between Canada and Denmark to work together on collecting data needed for the redrawing of the continental shelf line in the Arctic Ocean north of Ellesmere Island and Greenland.
Both Denmark and Canada have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that gives us the right to make claims beyond 200 nautical miles of new land and underwater resources in that area.
Now we could have decided that due to the sensitivities involved we would do this work individually. Instead we have adopted a much more constructive approach -- joint operation. We will share equipment, manpower, and knowledge and save time and money. And when the time comes to file our individual claims, I hope we will be much better equipped to divide the land and sea according to each country's wishes.
Denmark appreciates that the larger issue of sovereignty in the North is of real concern to Canada. Greenland, and thus Denmark, is also a part of the North. Denmark is not intruding in the area. We are only trying to protect what we believe to be part of our kingdom. We recognize that Hans Island is claimed by Canada as well; that there is a genuine dispute.
Nobody has an interest in letting such an issue sour our warm relations. That is why we suggest, as we have done in the past, that we turn to dialogue and the rule of law, as we generally do. We look forward to working with Canada on this issue.
Poul E. D. Kristensen is the ambassador of Denmark to Canada.
War of words over Graham's rock role
Hot Danish say minister broke own agreement with quiet visit to island
Tim Naumetz
For CanWest News Service; with files from The Canadian Press
July 28, 2005
OTTAWA - A disagreement between Canada and Denmark over a tiny Arctic island continued to simmer Wednesday as a Canadian official confirmed Defence Minister Bill Graham, who sparked the controversy last week by landing on Hans Island to demonstrate sovereignty, had agreed last year as foreign affairs minister that both sides would notify the other before visiting the disputed rock.
But Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Reynald Doiron, while insisting he did want to get into a debate with Denmark's ambassador to Canada over claims Graham broke the agreement, said the accord only covered visits by military vessels, and Graham approached the island by helicopter.
At the same time, Denmark served notice it will ask Canada to return to negotiations over ownership of the island, a bare outcrop less than 1,000 metres wide midway between Greenland and Canada's Ellesmere Island, because of the disturbance created by Graham's visit.
"We are very much suggesting now, since it can develop into an issue like this in the media, we had better sit down and resume the consultation and try to find a solution," said Danish Ambassador Poul Erik Dam Kristensen.
"That's very much our position and we hope the Canadian side agrees with us."
The countries agreed in 1973 to draw a border halfway between Greenland -- a semi-autonomous Danish territory -- and Canada's Ellesmere Island.
They could not agree on who should claim Hans Island and decided to resolve the issue at some later date.
Graham's helicopter visit prompted a heated response from Denmark, where the government delivered a letter of protest to Canadian diplomats. A week earlier, Canadian soldiers hoisted a Canadian flag and erected an Inuit stone marker on the island.
A senior Danish government official subsequently called Graham's touch-down on the uninhabited island an "occupation," but Graham reiterated his right to visit the site because of the longstanding Canadian sovereignty claim.
Kristensen said in an interview a "very high level representative" from Canada last year agreed with Danish officials that both sides would give advance notice before visiting the island, following a dispute the previous year over a visit by Danish soldiers.
The ambassador, saying his government advised Canada last week that Graham's visit breached the terms of the accord, declined to identify the Canadian official, other than describing him as "ministerial."
Doiron, deputy director of communications for the Foreign Affairs Department, confirmed it was Graham, who was foreign affairs minister at the time and last year faced opposition questions over the earlier visit by the Danes.
"Yes, of course," Doiron replied when asked if it was Graham who agreed on Canada's behalf.
He insisted, however, the agreement covered only military ships.
"It boils down to strictly military vessels, but we don't have to sail through any part whatsoever of Danish territorial waters because we don't send military vessels," he said.
When it was explained that Denmark believes the agreement covered visits by any government official, Doiron replied: "It does not match our recollection of our files on this, I don't want to contradict or enter into any pissing match whatsoever with the ambassador, but that's not the information I've been given by my legal colleagues."
Graham defended his visit by saying "our view is that it's part of Canada and we continue to be there and to go there."
Danish officials, however, believe the attempt to demonstrate Arctic sovereignty was directly related to disputes between Canada and the U.S. over sovereignty in the Northwest Passage and a boundary disagreement between the two countries over jurisdiction of part of the resource-rich Beaufort Sea.
