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June 16, 2022

Anna Murray 

The decades-long territorial dispute between Canada and Denmark came to an end when both countries signed a deal on the 14th of June, agreeing to the co-ownership of the island that is situated between Greenland and Nunavut called the Hans Island.

Dubbed the “whisky war,” both Canada and Denmark had been claiming jurisdiction over the island. In a political back-and-forth, both countries had been planting national flags and placing each country’s whiskies on the island as symbols of rightful ownership that dates back a half-century. 

The decades-old border disagreement over the sovereignty of the 1.3 square-kilometer island, which is inhabited by Inuit people, will now officially be split in half through a shared border, while maintaining the freedom to travel and hunt for the islands’ inhabitants. 

Though the dispute had always been friendly, this agreement came at a time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, making this deal a symbolic demonstration of nations being able to resolve territorial disputes diplomatically. 

Upon the signing the agreement, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly praised the deal as setting a standard for the international community to settle disputes in a peaceful and diplomatic manner, an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.  

The deal will become official once parliamentary approval is granted by both countries, effectively allowing Canada and Denmark to share the world’s longest border in the Arctic.