This is the last time they will exchange a bottle of whisky. The foreign ministers of Denmark and Canada signed an agreement in Ottawa on Tuesday to end the longest territorial dispute in history. It will have lasted 49 years.

They finally agreed to divide a small Arctic island located in the middle of the Kennedy Pass between Greenland and Ellesmere Island, exactly equidistant from the two countries that share the longest maritime border distance in the world at 2,685 kilometers. It was decided that 60% of the island’s territory would be returned to Greenland, a constituent state of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the rest to Canada.

This small confetti of 1.25 square kilometers, better known as Hans Island, is shaped like a kidney, which gave it the name Tartupaluk in Greenland, and has no real extractable or fossil resources. But since 1973, each of the two countries wanted to mark its presence there by trying to formalize its borders.

A question of domestic policy

The Canadians were the first to raise their flag in 1984, leaving a bottle of Canadian whiskey at the base of a flagpole. The Danes quickly replaced it with their own, leaving a bottle of brandy of their own. This continued for years, giving rise to the legend of the “Whisky War,” which symbolizes the confrontation – generally friendly – between the two nations. In 2005, they agreed to a peaceful solution to their conflict. It would take another seventeen years.

“It took a long time because sovereignty in the Arctic is mainly a domestic policy issue in both Canada and Denmark. We had to wait for a time when the issue was less politically topical. “This issue of sovereignty was no more of a priority for Justin Trudeau than it could have been under Stephen Harper as prime minister,” explains Professor Michael Byers of the University of British Columbia, who wrote to this dispute .

A symbol in the context of Ukraine

The solution to this conflict has symbolic value today. “This is very important in the context of the war in Ukraine because it underlines that two friendly countries, members of NATO, can resolve a territorial dispute responsibly and in accordance with international law,” emphasizes Professor Byers.

Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod told the newspaper “ArcticToday” : “The Russian invasion of Ukraine is an unacceptable attack on international law.” But everyone knows how important the Arctic is to Russia. They have an interest in peaceful cooperation in this region, even if there are conflicts elsewhere in the world. The agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and Canada proves that this is possible. »

It will definitely benefit the Inuit, who are used to crossing the straits on the ice to hunt and fish. “The Inuit in Canada and Greenland are the same, they have extended families on both sides and speak the same language. For them there are no borders,” says Michael Byers. The Danish Foreign Minister also stressed that everything that follows from this recognition of borders will in future be managed by the Greenlandic government, be it the mobility of people, agreements on fishing or other resources.

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