Hans Island, Canadian Earth

All of Canada's borders might not be as definite as you may expect.
While Canada is a sovereign nation, there are several territorial disputes which exist with its neighbors, Denmark (Greenland) and the United States. These conflicts of international borders pertain mainly to areas of uncertainty in the Arctic region which previously may have stood as insignificant. Though recently with the phenomenon of global warming, Arctic sovereignty has become a hot topic issue as there will be a scramble to establish these waters as international or national as the melting icecaps will allow new shipping lanes.

Hans Island, named by Elisha Kent Kane in 1853, is little more than a rock, is at the center of this debate as Canada and Denmark both claim for it to be on their side of the border line. It is a small, uninhabited area measuring 1.3 km² and is located and is located / 80.82806; -66.45972 in the center of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait which separates Ellesmere Island from Greenland and connects Baffin Bay with the Lincoln Sea.

The history of the dispute is little more than several flag mounting efforts by both Canadian and Danish authorities, beginning in 1988 and continuing to the present day. Dome Petroleum (Calgary based) preformed research on the island in the early 1980's. In 2005 the Canadian Defense Minister made a symbolic visit to the island and there have now been mutual efforts between Denmark and Canada to build a mutual weather station on the island. Satellite photos from July 2007 now show the border to be going directly though Hans Island, though dispute over its sovereignty remains.

The situation here is not unique to Canada and Denmark as there are several islands around the world which give rise to heated debates in respect to their sovereignty. Dokdo Island in the sea of Japan is an example of this where South Korea and Japan both claim control over what is little more than a group of rocks with the size of 0.18km2. Dokdo has officially remained in South Korean possession since 1954, though the Japaneese have continued to claim it as theirs. Check out this blog which proclaims 'Korea's ancient title to the Dokdo region': Dokdo in Korea!

Here is a list of other Canadian disputed territory:

Machias Seal Island: New Brunswick and Maine

North Rock: New Brunswick and Maine

Straight of Juan de Fuca: British Columbia and Washington

Dixon Entrance: British Columbia and Alaska

Portland Canal: British Columbia and Alaska

The North West Passage in the Arctic waters is currently the most contested as with the melting icecaps, new shipping lanes will be available which naturally the U.S. feels entitled to utilize.