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COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark protested against an unannounced visit last week by the defense minister of Canada to a small and uninhabitable island in the Arctic claimed by both countries.

Defense Minister Bill Graham stopped on Hans Island, north of Greenland, on Wednesday while on a whirlwind tour of Canada's Arctic military posts, to survey the barren patch of land that sits on the boundary between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Denmark's Greenland.

The dispute over the island, which is less than 100 metres (yards) wide, dates back to 1973 when the border was drawn between Canada and Greenland, which is part of Denmark.

Canada's ambassador to Denmark, Fredericka Gregory, was summoned to the Danish foreign ministry on Monday for talks.

"We said that we deplored the visit which was not announced to Denmark in advance, and we recalled that Hans Island has been part of Greenland since its discovery in 1852 during an expedition" conducted by Denmark and Greenland, the foreign ministry's chief legal counsel, Peter Taksoee-Jensen, told AFP.

The snow-covered site is uninhabitable, but the onset of global warming is expected to bring ship traffic to the region soon and open it up to mining, fishing or drilling for oil and gas.

Danes and Canadians have visited it often to lay claim to it.

In 2003, the crew of a frigate landed on the island and erected a Danish flag. Four years ago, Canadian geologists flew to the island and Canadian energy companies have surveyed the surroundings, according to reports.

Mid-July, Canadian forces erected a plaque, the Canadian flag and an Inuit stone marker called an inukshuk on the island.

Taksoee-Jensen said Copenhagen "reacted quickly" to Graham's visit because Denmark does not want to see "a deterioration of the possibility for future negotiations on the status of the island, which should be resolved amicably between the two countries."

"We should try to find a bilateral solution," he said.
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All i say why doesn't the navy just send a ship up there. (yes Canada does have a navy) Its funny how they fight up here. Maybe well get a Falkland war.

hahaha, thats pretty funny, we should send a ship there though....

100 metres ??

I would think that your ship would eclipse this tiny Island !

Denmark would need the land more than Canada, take a look at the map and see how tiny Denmark is .........and Denmark would woop the Canadian navy bangin

It would???

Last I checked the Danish government has a canoe, an old submarine (which was sent to Iraq - a sub in a desert country?!?!?), and a compas.

Politicians are INSANE. Let's put them on that tiny island and fight it out. Maybe a hockey-match?

Enough to whoop the Canadians and guess the Danish Navy is better equipped than the Danish government

Originally posted by finti
Enough to whoop the Canadians and guess the Danish Navy is better equipped than the Danish government

Well that's cause the Canadians have two canoes and a big bird as their Air Force....

All i know Canada has 30 destroyers and Frigates.I admit our army is sort of pathetic but they recently are getting a lot of money.

Canadas tooo big...they should give some to Michigan...

Originally posted by Bardock42
Well that's cause the Canadians have two canoes and a big bird as their Air Force....

Well they would have had a special forces team too, but they double as their hockey team in the off season, and word has it they drowned during spring training...

Originally posted by manny321
All i know Canada has 30 destroyers and Frigates.I admit our army is sort of pathetic but they recently are getting a lot of money.

Originally posted by manny321
All i know Canada has 30 destroyers and Frigates.I admit our army is sort of pathetic but they recently are getting a lot of money.

Destroyers and frigates, huh? I can see it now, the destroyers break down and they can't get them fixed no matter how hard they try, and some guy stands on the deck and yells "Oh frigate...."

Canadians should be happy, theyr the 2nd largest country in land mass, and they want more? whats with that?

I think that if they give up land that they think the frozen but valuable north may get invaded or taken over by other countries. There is a lot of natural resources up there. About this they say there may be Diamonds on that Island.

Originally posted by finti
Denmark would need the land more than Canada, take a look at the map and see how tiny Denmark is .........and Denmark would woop the Canadian navy bangin

Denmark is the biggest country in Europe after Russia. They own Greenland.

So? cananda has much more land and all, they should be happy with it, so what if Denamrk a small dwarf compared to cananda wants a very very small island?

Originally posted by The Highlord
So? cananda has much more land and all, they should be happy with it, so what if Denamrk a small dwarf compared to cananda wants a very very small island?

I don't care about the island. I just pointed out an mistake.

I posted before I saw your post

look up Denmark and you will see they dont include Grenland into its area, Grenland is counted as a selv governed territory, if we should include territories then Norway is bigger than Denmark even if they added Greenland to it

very true as finti says, Greenland may just aswell choose to leave the kingdom in a few years, I live in The Faroe Islands wich is also a part of the danish kingdom, and dont be suprised if we aint listed under danish rule in maybe 10 years or so, denamrk it self is acturly one of the smallest country's in Europe, its on par with some of the small middel european countrys