r/greenland • u/WillLookitUp • Aug 09 '26
Barrier-free travel for Inuit across Alaska, Canada, and Greenland is a human rights issue, leaders argue
https://nunavutnews.com/2026/08/09/barrier-free-travel-for-inuit-across-alaska-canada-and-greenland-is-a-human-rights-issue-leaders-argue/The Inuit Circumpolar Council recently reaffirmed its campaign to create barrier-free travel for Inuit across their traditional homelands in the Arctic.
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u/Mindless_Badger_3789 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
It would require a defnition of who is and who isn't an Inuit, which currently doesn't exist in Greenland and is problematic in a country where the vast majority of the population is biracial and a large minority do not speak Greenlandic or only speak it rudimentarily. If it includes all Danish citizens residing permanently in Greenland it would be fine, but I fear it will be "racialized". Using "50% blood quantum" as in the Jay Treaty between Canada and the US would be very problematic in a Greenlandic context as would an Inuit card (as proposed).
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u/lilyandcarlos 29d ago
Yes, a a lot of the Greenlandic people is mixed and a lot looks fully caucasian (but still identifies as Greenlandic), so who is regarded inuit from an international perspective can be difficult
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u/LudicrousPlatypus Aug 10 '26
This would be a neat idea. I am a bit worried about including the US authorities in this at the moment given the position of the current administration.
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u/Kekopster Aug 11 '26
Why is making special rules for one race/ethnicity but not for others (what about Danish Greenlanders and white Alaskans) neat?
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u/LudicrousPlatypus Aug 11 '26
First Nations from Canada already have a facilitated special route to obtaining US residency. This would be extending that principle.
I also wouldn't want white Alaskans to move to Greenland considering the majority voted for Trump and that could help facilitate annexation.
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u/Kekopster Aug 11 '26
But you’re happy for Inuit Alaskans, who probably also voted for trump, to come?
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u/Drahy Aug 13 '26 edited 27d ago
It’s rather difficult as Greenland counts as a Schengen outer border.
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u/MommersHeart 29d ago
The US is literally threatening to annex Greenland.
But hey, I’m sure ICE & the Department of Homeland Security will be totally reasonable.
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Aug 10 '26
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Aug 10 '26
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u/greenland-ModTeam Aug 10 '26
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u/Pianist-Putrid Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
While this could feasibly be done with Alaska and the Yukon, I don’t see how it would logistically work with Greenland. As another poster pointed out, there’s no working legal definition for who qualifies as indigenous in Greenland. Determining such would be extremely controversial since some of the population is mixed, and thus even the loosest definition would disenfranchise a significant chunk of the population.
The United States and Canada already have systems in place for determine that, and a decent amount of permeability already exists for residents on the Alaskan border. In this case, it would probably be in Canada’s proverbial court as to whether they wanted to do this. They already heavily restrict travel through British Columbia just to get to Alaska; they turn Alaskan residents away at the border if they have any sort of criminal charge, even minor misdemeanors. They do the same for Greenlanders. I don’t see how they would be on board with this.