What was the 2022 Hans Island Treaty?

The 2022 Hans Island Treaty was a boundary treaty signed on June 14, 2022 between Canada and Denmark that divided the small 1.3-square-kilometre island of Hans Island (Tartupaluk) in Nares Strait between Canada (Nunavut) and Denmark (Greenland). The treaty resolved a 49-year disputed land border, the only land-border dispute between Canada and a country other than the United States. The signing followed the famous decades-long 'whisky war' in which Canadian and Danish officials had alternated visits to the island, replacing the previous nation's flag and leaving behind a bottle of national liquor as a friendly territorial marker.

The dispute originated with the 1973 Canada-Denmark Maritime Boundary Treaty, which had drawn the maritime boundary through Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, and Nares Strait but had specifically not addressed Hans Island because both countries claimed sovereignty. Hans Island is a barren rocky islet of about 1.3 square kilometres in the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait, equidistant between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland. The maritime boundary treaty traced the median line through 127 turning points across about 2,685 kilometres but skipped the section through the island.

The 'whisky war' became a charming feature of Canada-Denmark relations from the 1980s onward. Canadian visits in 1984, 1988, 2002, 2003, and 2005 left bottles of Canadian whisky (typically Crown Royal or Canadian Club) and Canadian flags. Danish visits in 1984, 1988, 2002, 2003, and 2007 left bottles of Danish schnapps and Danish flags. The competing visits were regarded as a model of friendly territorial diplomacy: each visit was conducted officially but without escalation, and the bottles became commemorative items for the diplomats involved. The 2003 Canadian visit by Defence Minister Bill Graham and the subsequent 2004 diplomatic protests by Denmark demonstrated that the dispute remained real despite its friendly tenor.

The June 14, 2022 treaty was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly (Canada), Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod (Denmark), and the Premier of Greenland Múte Bourup Egede. The treaty divides Hans Island roughly down the middle along a natural ravine, with Canada (Nunavut) receiving the western section of about 0.6 square kilometres and Denmark (Greenland) receiving the eastern section of about 0.7 square kilometres. The international border between Canada and Denmark now crosses Hans Island, making Canada's northwestern neighbour of Denmark a land-bordering country for the first time. The treaty also confirms the 1973 maritime boundary, settles minor Lincoln Sea boundary issues, and establishes mechanisms for Inuit movement across the island. The Hans Island Treaty is widely cited as a model of friendly diplomatic resolution of territorial disputes.