[ISL] "Canada and Denmark keep relations warm in Arctic island dispute"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Jim Coyle describes the current state of the Hans Island border dispute between Canada and Denmark.

Hans Island is a 1.2-square-km rock in the Kennedy Channel of the Nares Strait between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and Denmark’s Greenland.

In practical terms, it’s worthless (even if it would likely incite bidding wars in the real-estate markets of Vancouver or Toronto).

Just before Christmas in 1973, Canada and Denmark agreed to a treaty that established the boundary between Canada and Greenland.

The boundary-makers drew a series of geodesic lines up the middle of the waterway, and all went swimmingly until they bumped into Hans Island. Since their mandate was to draw maritime, not land divisions, they hopped over it.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Canada claimed Hans as Canadian. Denmark assumed it to be Danish. And the two sides have not seen eye to eye on Hans since.