Until 2022, the status of Hans Island was unclear. The now famous “whisky war” between Canada and Denmark began in 1973 over Hans Island, a 1.3 km2 island between Canada and Greenland, in the middle of the Kennedy Channel. Today, the island is shared between the two countries. Let’s take a look back at the history of this territorial dispute.
The unclear situation of the Hans Island
A brief history
In the Canadian Senate, Michael Byers said: “There is only one land dispute in the entire Arctic, and that’s a small island between Canada and Greenland called Hans Island […] which is so small as to be almost irrelevant.
In 1973, Canada and Denmark got together to sign a treaty to demarcate the maritime boundary between Ellesmere Island and Greenland (a semi-autonomous Danish territory) along the 1,450-nm-long continental shelf. As far as the island of Hans is concerned, this treaty does not define its sovereignty; the dispute concerns the island, the land itself and neither the water nor the seabed.
In fact, there are no resources to be found in the water, and as for the land, this small calcareous rock has no wealth. The dispute is mainly about who discovered it first. The story is a bit complex and involves both Americans and Europeans.
First of all, the discovery of the island is the subject of contradictions between Canada and Denmark. In Canada’s version, the island was discovered by a British explorer; in Denmark’s version, the island was discovered by them in 1853 by Hans Hendrik.
In 1880, all British territories and possessions in North America were transferred to Canada, including the Hudson Bay Company Islands, and Hans Island was to be part of the deal, as it was in Baffin Bay. At the same time, Greenland was disputed between the United States and Denmark, but thanks to the Virgins Island deal, the United States gave up its claim to Greenland in 1917, allowing Denmark to claim Hans Island as well.
Later, in 1933, the International Court of Justice gave Greenland the right to Hans Island as it was part of the same geological block. In addition, Denmark insisted on the fact that the Greenlandic intuition used the island for hunting purposes.
Terra nullius
Hans Island is a symbol of the polar potential of the Arctic. As has been said, there are no particular resources to be found around the island, but it is on the way to polar exploration for hydrocarbons after the ice has melted.
That’s why Emmanuel Hussenet, a French writer and expert on the Arctic, proposed the statute of Terra Nulluis for Hans Island in 2013. The Latin expression, which means “no one’s land”, would be neither Canada’s nor Denmark’s, to make the island a symbol of “responsibility” for humanity in the polar zone. The commercial exploitation of the North would be an ecological disaster, and this universalist would dedicate himself to science and research to raise awareness of climate change. The aim was to obtain a maximum of virtual citizenship in order to attract the attention and reflection of the state.
However, this initiative was criticised for excluding the Innu and their view of the island.
A pacific dispute
Denmark And Canada exchange bottles a liquor
The dispute is famously known as the Whiskey War dispute for a very specific reason. Since the 1973 delimitation agreement, Hans Island has not been specified, leading to interpretations. Canada and Denmark use bottles of liquor, whisky and schnapps, deliberately left on the island. A tacit agreement between Tom Høyem (Denmark’s Minister for Greenland) and John Munro (Canada’s Minister for Northern Development) to leave the island open to scientific exploration from both countries. But as soon as this agreement seemed to be over, the countries began to reclaim the land with troops and their national flags. The tradition was established by Tom Høyem when he first left a bottle of cognac from Baron Otard Napoleon in 1984, Canada the proceed to do the same.
The dispute is also politically instrumentalist a moment before election time. As Professor Byers said in an interview for the New York Times: “It was simply a way of stirring up a little patriotic feeling in a completely risk-free context”
The New York Times described the dispute as “peaceful and successful”, as in 2022 the two ministers, Melanie Joly (Canadian Foreign Minister) and Jeppe Kofod (Danish Foreign Minister), reached a boundary agreement after the Hans Island crack.
Inuit right
When the discussion about the agreement began, the strong actors in the situation were mentioned: the Inughuit (Greenlanders) and the Inuit (Canadians).
Even during the dispute, the president of Nunavut Tungavik Incorporated (the representative organisation of Nunavut Inuit) noted that “the dispute between Canada and Denmark over Tartupaluk or Hans Island has never caused problems for Inuit” and that “hunting, fishing and other related cultural, traditional, historical and future activities have been maintained”.
Both Denmark and Canada use the Inuit people argument to defend their right to the land, saying that the Inuit use the island to hunt and identify marine mammals on the surrounding sea ice.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has opened discussions with the Inuit in Canada to discuss policy and the border. Denmark has also continued consultations with the Inughuit of Northwest Greenland. Both states have worked to ensure compliance with Inuit rights. The main aim has been to maintain freedom of movement throughout the island and traditional activities. The Inuit are semi-nomadic, and even though this has decreased due to changes in the region, the Inuit still move according to the seasons.
It “demonstrates the integrity of Inuit traditional territories that extend beyond the sovereign boundaries established by the state,” says the Arctic Institute. This act could lead to greater recognition of Inuit rights throughout Baffin Bay.
The Whiskey War is now over, but Canada and Denmark have agreed on a new border between the two countries. The decision to find an agreement came during the first year of the war between Ukraine and Russia, and can be seen as an attempt by NATO allies to make peace around the Arctic and unite against Russia, as the polar routes could become a major strategic point in the future.
