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One thing I have been thinking about for a while, wouldn't it be better off if Greenland belonged to Canada instead of Denmark?
Here is some arguments for it:
- It's much closer to Canada, with only ice and water between.
- The people of Greenland are pretty much the same people as the Inuits of neighboring Nunavut. The Greenlandic Inuits originally comes from Canada.
- The Greenlandic language, Kalaallisut, is very closely related to the Canadian Inuit language, which it is partially mutually intelligible with.
- The Greenlandic people feels very closely related to their Canadian neighbors.
- There is alot of oil and uranium to be found in Greenland.
- It would make the second largest country in the world even larger.
- Greenland has about everything in common with Arctic Canada, but absolutely nothing in common with Denmark (a Scandinavian country in Europe north of Germany)
- Almost all Greenlanders are Inuits, just like their neighbors in Nunavut.
- Both Canada and Greenland is in North America, while Denmark is in Europe.
- It would solve the Hans Island territorial dispute.
Does anyone have any arguments against? It would most likely get the status of a territory like Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. Also Denmark has shown many times be be willing to let Greenland go. Currently Greenland is self-ruling and autonomous, with it's own prime minister, and is not a part of the EU. The Danish rule is currently very limited in Greenland, they have pretty much their own laws, with Denmark only being responsible for a handful of things like foreign affairs and law enforcement. Greenland has a population of around 56,000.
Do you think it would it be good or bad for Canada if Greenland joined? Would it be better or worse for Greenland? Also discuss hypothetically what could happen in Canada and Greenland if they became a territory of Canada.
It's fantastic to have Greenland fully integrated into Canada.
But I don't think Greenland will join merely as a territory rather than as a province.
But isn't there a certain amount of people that something has to have in order to be a province? Greenland has a low population comparable to that of Nunavut, Northwest Territories and the Yukon. Isn't their low populations the reason why they are not provinces?
I see alot of reasons why Greenland should be a part of Canada, but no reason why it should be part of a tiny Scandinavian European country thousends of miles away that it has nothing in common with.
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 11-03-2013 at 03:13 PM..
I dunno. I like the idea of all the resources we'd have, but I don't like that alot of it isn't even recoverable right now, there is high unemployment, and depends on Denmark keeping the economically afloat.
Plus, we'd have to maintain soverginty, which we can hardly even do right now.
If the people of Greenland wanted to become part of Canada and give up being self-ruling and autonomous with their prime minister becoming premier instead, and if Canada was in agreement, then I think in the long run that such a merger would be good for both Canada and Greenland. At the moment I can't really think of what reasons there might be to make such a move detrimental to Greenlanders but I would question what the cost to Canada would be.
I'd like to see what evidence there is that Denmark would be willing to give up dominion over Greenland and its natural resources.
If the people of Greenland wanted to become part of Canada and give up being self-ruling and autonomous with their prime minister becoming premier instead, and if Canada was in agreement, then I think in the long run that such a merger would be good for both Canada and Greenland. At the moment I can't really think of what reasons there might be to make such a move detrimental to Greenlanders but I would question what the cost to Canada would be.
I'd like to see what evidence there is that Denmark would be willing to give up dominion over Greenland and its natural resources.
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Greenlandic total independence has been up to debate many times, but the Danish government as well as Greenland wants the country to be able to substain itself before that can happen.
Here is an article, in Danish (which I can read, cause it's almost the same as Swedish), about how Greenlanders feels more related to Canada than Denmark, and how they prefer Canada over Denmark
Here is a Google Translated version, since I am not going to spend an hour on translating it: Google Översätt
With a few corrections by me:
Quote:
Greenlanders prefer Canada over Denmark
The neighbors in Canada are those that Greenland wants to have the greatest benefits of working with in the coming years - not the Danes.
When the newly elected prime minister of Greenland Aleqa Hammond (Progressive Party) Monday begins her first official visit to Denmark, she as a representative of a people who no longer sees Denmark as its primary, future allies.
According to a new study in which most Greenlanders point to Canada as the country that Greenland should hook up with in the coming years.
The survey was conducted via telephone interviews of HS Analysis for Newsletter A4 among a representative sample of 712 persons of the population of Greenland.
Every Third: Canada first
Although Greenlanders stick to the commonwealth, pointing almost one in three - 31 percent - in Canada, when asked about who Greenland must ally itself most in the coming years.
Denmark got the second place and the support of 22 percent of respondents, while the great powers China and the United States must come to terms with the fact that only 6 and 4 percent of Greenlanders see them as sensible allies.
Otherwise, it's Chinese and the Americans, who now stands poised with billions of dollars and large-scale mining projects.
Continued support for the commonwealth
The orientation towards the Canadian neighbor to the west is, however, according to the study, does not stop the Greenlanders support for the commonwealth of Denmark and the Faroe Islands.
84 per cent of respondents describe themselves as supporters of the commonwealth. Historian and Greenland Expert Sørensen find it remarkable that so many Greenlanders oriented towards Canada instead of Denmark.
But precisely because of the massive support for the commonwealth he does not believe that one should imagine that the Greenlanders will eventually be incorporated in Canada. It's about a cultural community, we correspondingly grow in the Nordic countries, he thinks.
- I think the pull of Canada is consistent with the historical and cultural ties and relations that the Greenlanders have with the Inuit in Canada. It is a people that is very similar to the Greenlanders. They have the same culture and language and also formalized cooperation with Greenland. It's not the Canadian government that the Greenlanders think of when they answer as they do, says Sørensen to Newsletter A4.
Interestingly, if becoming independent, Greenland will be the first North American sovereign native country. But I don't see anything wrong with Greenland being annexed by Canada either, they are not any different from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
The Greenlanders learns English as second language in school, and they learn Greenlandic Inuit (Kalaallisut) as first language. The Danish language does no longer have any official status. Most Greenlanders speaks fluent English, with Inuit accent like their western neighbors, except in some very remote areas where some may only speak Kalaallisut or Tunumiit.
Last edited by Helsingborgaren; 11-03-2013 at 07:31 PM..
Personally I would be delighted to see Greenland become Canadian territory and join the Commonwealth.
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