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Canada, in urgent need of Lebensraum, invades the Danish motherland 
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The government has hardened its claims over a portion of the Far North after Canada's defence minister quietly set foot this week on a tiny Arctic island that has become the object of an ownership dispute with Denmark.
Bill Graham took the extraordinary steps onto Hans Island on Wednesday in a symbolic move that helps to stake Canada's claim to the area when and if the dispute comes to a head. Military personnel landed on the island a week earlier, planted a Canadian flag and built an Inuit stone marker known as an inukshuk.
The island is little larger than a football field and is about an hour away from Canadian Forces Station Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island. However, Mr. Graham's decision to visit is one of the first moves toward fulfilling the government's pledge to become more active in the North and thereby protect Canadian sovereignty.
The island is uninhabitable, but the onset of global warming could increase ship traffic in the area.
“I'm not unaware of the fact that, obviously, this island is the subject matter of discussions,” said Mr. Graham, who was accompanied by a helicopter crew and a few other officials. Mr. Graham said he was in the Far North touring Canadian installations and doing other work when he decided to stop off.
“[But] I don't see it as a kind of big statement in terms of Canada-Danish relationships. I see it as part of the fact that we've always said this is Canada and it was perfectly normal for me being in the region to go by and see what the troops had done when they'd been there the week before.
“Our position has consistently been that it's Canadian.”
The Danish ambassador was informed of the landing yesterday, Mr. Graham said. Officials could not be reached for comment late yesterday afternoon.
The two nations failed to settle the ownership of the island when borders were drawn between Canada and Greenland, a part of Denmark, in 1973. Mr. Graham explained that the island lies near what would be the boundary between the two nations. The island and about 1,000 metres around it are in dispute. The waters could include important fish stocks and have been the subject of dispute between native peoples from Canada and Greenland. Canada's claims to sovereignty were put into some question in 2003 after crew members from a Danish frigate landed on the island and placed a Danish flag there.
The Danes who visited had planted other flags on the island in previous years, while Canadian geologists flew to it four years ago.
Canadian energy companies have also made surveys on and around the island.
Mr. Graham noted that the recent defence policy statement articulated that Canada's forces would become more active in the North.
He said the department will be using more unmanned aerial vehicles in the Arctic, as well as increased satellite coverage and looking at ways in which it can use a radar presence to better understand traffic through the Northwest Passage.
“There's other shipping going on through the area and we have to be cognizant of that,” he said. “We have to be active in making sure that we're the ones that control that if we're going to be able to say that we have sovereign rights over the Arctic.”
Mr. Graham said he believes the two nations will be able to resolve the issue without taking it to an international adjudication.
Bill Graham took the extraordinary steps onto Hans Island on Wednesday in a symbolic move that helps to stake Canada's claim to the area when and if the dispute comes to a head. Military personnel landed on the island a week earlier, planted a Canadian flag and built an Inuit stone marker known as an inukshuk.
The island is little larger than a football field and is about an hour away from Canadian Forces Station Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island. However, Mr. Graham's decision to visit is one of the first moves toward fulfilling the government's pledge to become more active in the North and thereby protect Canadian sovereignty.
The island is uninhabitable, but the onset of global warming could increase ship traffic in the area.
“I'm not unaware of the fact that, obviously, this island is the subject matter of discussions,” said Mr. Graham, who was accompanied by a helicopter crew and a few other officials. Mr. Graham said he was in the Far North touring Canadian installations and doing other work when he decided to stop off.
“[But] I don't see it as a kind of big statement in terms of Canada-Danish relationships. I see it as part of the fact that we've always said this is Canada and it was perfectly normal for me being in the region to go by and see what the troops had done when they'd been there the week before.
“Our position has consistently been that it's Canadian.”
The Danish ambassador was informed of the landing yesterday, Mr. Graham said. Officials could not be reached for comment late yesterday afternoon.
The two nations failed to settle the ownership of the island when borders were drawn between Canada and Greenland, a part of Denmark, in 1973. Mr. Graham explained that the island lies near what would be the boundary between the two nations. The island and about 1,000 metres around it are in dispute. The waters could include important fish stocks and have been the subject of dispute between native peoples from Canada and Greenland. Canada's claims to sovereignty were put into some question in 2003 after crew members from a Danish frigate landed on the island and placed a Danish flag there.
The Danes who visited had planted other flags on the island in previous years, while Canadian geologists flew to it four years ago.
Canadian energy companies have also made surveys on and around the island.
Mr. Graham noted that the recent defence policy statement articulated that Canada's forces would become more active in the North.
He said the department will be using more unmanned aerial vehicles in the Arctic, as well as increased satellite coverage and looking at ways in which it can use a radar presence to better understand traffic through the Northwest Passage.
“There's other shipping going on through the area and we have to be cognizant of that,” he said. “We have to be active in making sure that we're the ones that control that if we're going to be able to say that we have sovereign rights over the Arctic.”
Mr. Graham said he believes the two nations will be able to resolve the issue without taking it to an international adjudication.
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