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Sunday 05.02.2012

Bill on Hans: Canada's defence minister makes a call

A helicopter set Bill Graham down on the round, windswept island about the size of a football field, located between Greenland and Ellesmere Island.

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's defence minister pulled on a pair of hiking boots and trudged on to a tiny northern island on a one-man mission to counter Denmark's claim to the barren, frozen rock.

The sovereignty exercise on Hans Island happened this week during Bill Graham's trip to Canada's Arctic.

A helicopter set him down on the round, windswept island about the size of a football field, located between Greenland and Ellesmere Island.

"I wasn't there to make some big dramatic statement," Graham told The Canadian Press.

"My act of going there was totally consistent with the fact that Canada has always regarded this island as a part of Canada. . .

"I was just visiting Hans Island the way I visited other facilities of Canada's."

Of course no other Canadian "facilities" are claimed by Denmark, which sent navy ships to the island in 2002 and 2003 and hoisted a Danish flag.

In turn, Canadian soldiers placed a traditional Inuit stone statue (Inukshuk) with a plaque and a Maple Leaf flag on the island last week before Graham's visit.

Ottawa did inform the Danes of the trip - two days after Graham left. The Danes would have received an advance courtesy call had Hans Island been considered foreign soil.

The visit could be used to assert Canada's sovereignty over the land, Graham agreed. But he said aboriginals, military and Rangers' stops on the island also bolster the Canadian argument.

"If there were some form of a dispute which took place before an international tribunal, all forms of activity on the island are a normal part of establishing presence," he said.

Denmark's ambassador to Ottawa, Poul Erik Dam Kristensen, refused to comment on the visit.

Graham wore civilian gear during his one-hour visit Wednesday - a ski jacket, corduroy pants and hiking boots.

Canada has become increasingly vigilant about asserting its sovereign claim to the Arctic because of global warming, and its potential impact on mining and shipping.

More than 360 Canadian Forces sailors and soldiers participated in a northern sovereignty exercise last summer.

Canada's primary military presence in the Arctic are the Rangers - more than 4,000 aboriginals who use traditional survival skills, snowmobiles and vintage rifles to patrol all the way to the magnetic North Pole.

Denmark and Canada remain on solid diplomatic terms. They have avoided settling the dispute through the two available means: negotiation or litigation before the International Court of Justice.

The countries were aware of the potential for discord in 1973 when they drew a border halfway between Canada's Ellesmere Island and the Danish island of Greenland. They agreed at the time that sovereignty over Hans Island and others in the region would be determined later.

Denmark's claim is based on their argument that the island is closer to Greenland than to Ellesmere.