Who Owns the Arctic?

Danish warship sails into Greenpeace Arctic oil protest

Armed forces called in to prevent environmentalists interfering with Cairn Energy's exploration of Arctic waters

John Vidal, The Guardian, May 24, 2011

Armed Danish commandos are thought to have been landed on a giant oil rig by helicopter to prevent environmentalists interfering with a British oil company's controversial exploration of deep Arctic waters. In a stand-off in the Davis Strait, west of Greenland, the Danish navy has been shadowing the Greenpeace ship Esperanza as it tracked the 53,000 tonne Leiv Eiriksson in iceberg-strewn sea to the site where it plans to search for oil at depths of up to 5,000ft.

Dispute over Hans Island nears resolution. Now for the Beaufort Sea

John Ibbitson, Globe and Mail, January 27, 2011

Negotiators are now confident that Canada and Denmark will resolve their dispute over Hans Island, and sooner rather than later.

Relations between the two countries have grown irritable at times in recent years because of their competing claims to the barren bit of rock perched halfway between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Also in dispute is a patch of the Lincoln Sea even farther north.

But the two countries are in negotiations and have embarked on a joint mapping exercise, and both Canadian and Danish officials, speaking on background, said they were confident of reaching an agreement before Canada deposits its claim over the Arctic seabed to the United Nations in 2013.

Shared jurisdiction of the island is one possibility; another is running the border down the middle of the uninhabited, 1.3-square-kilometre knoll, which would give Canada a land border with Denmark.

Hans Island appears headed for joint custody

Members of the Canadian Forces during a visit to Hans Island in July 2005. Photograph by: Handout/DND

John Ivison, National Post, November 9, 2010

OTTAWA — Canada is likely to have a second land border in the near future — this time with a European country. The 37-year dispute with Denmark over Hans Island, a small, uninhabited knoll located between Ellesmere Island and northern Greenland, is close to being concluded, according to the Danish Defence Minister.

Russia isn't 'freezing out' Canada on Arctic

Peter Glover, St John Telegraph-Journal, Sept 30, 2010

Exploitation of the Arctic's rich mineral resources can be done "in cooperation" with "disputes being resolved peacefully" and showing "concern for the environment." This was the chief message Vladimir Putin wanted to deliver in person to The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue conference held in Moscow last week.

Putin Calls for 'Trust' in Developing a Thawing Arctic

Lauren Morello, New York Times, September 23, 2010

MOSCOW -- "Mutual trust" will be the key to developing the vast resources of the Arctic and protecting its fragile ecosystems, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said today.

"In the final analysis, the future of the Arctic will be resolved by our willingness to look together for responses to joint challenges," Putin told attendees at an international Arctic conference hosted by the Russian Geographical Society.

No thaw in spat over symbol of Arctic sovereignty

A Canadian-Danish resolution on Hans Island could be 'a way of getting the ball rolling' on other northern ownership disputes

KATHERINE O'NEILL

Globe and Mail, September 8, 2009

The first and only time George Hobson set foot on Hans Island was 36 years ago.

Mr. Hobson, then head of the Polar Continental Shelf Project, a federal Arctic research program, flew more than two hours by Twin Otter to the rocky outcrop from Resolute Bay after receiving an urgent phone call from Ottawa.

The caller was former prime minister Jean Chrétien, who was then federal minister of Indian and northern affairs.

Danish and Canadian scientists set to map Arctic Ocean

Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service, March 17, 2009

Two years after a Russian submarine created an international uproar by planting a flag on the North Pole sea floor, Canada and Denmark are set to launch a joint aerial mapping mission over the Arctic Ocean that could help extend the territorial reach of the two countries to the Pole - or beyond.

North Pole may belong to Denmark, early mapping data suggests: scientist

CBC News, March 12, 2009

Preliminary results from scientific mapping of the Arctic seabed indicate that the North Pole likely falls within Denmark's boundaries, a Canadian scientist says. ...

For the full text, see: North Pole

Hans Island: Denmark Responds

Letter to the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, July 28, 2005

Canada and Denmark are neighbours in the North, allies in NATO and the UN working closely together for peace and democracy in challenging spots like Afghanistan, the Middle East and Sudan. Indeed 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 during centuries. Their oral languages are nearly identical. In order to emphasise the relationship and facilitate even closer cooperation in the future Denmark is in the final phase of opening an honorary consulate in Iqaluit, making Denmark 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 belonging of Hans Island. Issues to be dealt with deftly to strengthen the friendship.

Canada to start 'non-stop' year of mapping Arctic seabed

CBC News, January 26, 2009

Federal scientists will soon take on their most ambitious effort yet to map the Arctic Ocean seabed, four years before Canada's deadline to try to extend its Arctic sovereignty as part of an international treaty. ...

For the full story, see: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/01/26/cda-arctic.html