Canada vs. Denmark

Hans Island (Greenlandic/Inuktitut: Tartupaluk; Danish: Hans Ø; French: Île Hans) is a small, uninhabited barren knoll measuring 1.3 km² (0.5 sq mi), located at approximately 80°49′41″N, 66°27′35″W in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait—the strait that separates Ellesmere Island from northern Greenland and connects Baffin Bay with the Lincoln Sea. Hans Island is the smallest of three islands located in Kennedy Channel; the others are Franklin Island and Crozier Island.

The island is claimed by both Canada and Denmark. The dispute over Hans Island may turn into a test case on territorial claims in the Arctic (particularly regarding the contested Northwest Passage south of the island), a region that could become more important if Arctic shrinkage opens it up to more human activity. [...]
Oil companies build artificial islands in the sea on which to position their drilling rigs. Hans Island was apparently the perfect setting to test such artificial islands' strength to withstand the force of being hit by large floes of multi-year ice.
Simultaneously, the Danish and Canadian governments were in the process of signing a cooperation agreement in relation to the marine environment in Nares Strait. The agreement was signed and put into force on August 26, 1983. (The treaty was extended even further in 1991.)
One of the items also discussed was the possibility of establishing a reciprocal arrangement for processing applications to conduct research on and around Hans Island. This was never signed; however, Canadian John Munro, at that time Minister for Northern Affairs and Development, and Danish Tom Høyem, at that time Minister for Greenland, agreed, in common interest, to avoid acts that might prejudice future negotiations.
However, unknown to the politicians, Dome Petroleum was already doing research on the island. According to Kenn Harper, the Canadian Department of External Affairs conducting these negotiations with the Danes might not even have been aware that Dome Petroleum was already doing research on the island. Kenn Harper claims that in 1984 a senior official of Energy Mines and Resources, Canada, wrote him, saying, "To my knowledge the Department of Energy, Mines & Resources did not confer with the Department of External Affairs over the use of the island by Dome Petroleum." [...]
The dispute suddenly came to popular attention through Canadian press stories during late March 2004. Within days, it spread to other newspapers worldwide. Shortly after, Internet newsgroups, weblogs and forums began to start new threads and entries on the subject. Satirical headlines like "Canada being invaded" and "Denmark massing troops on Canadian territory" were typical.
The issue came to light on March 25, 2004, when Adrian Humphreys of the Canadian National Post newspaper wrote an article entitled "Five-year plan to 'put footprints in the snow' and assert northern sovereignty". Humphreys made a brief mention of the dispute over Hans Island, and that the Danes had sent warships to the island.
While Canada wanted to assert sovereignty of its northern territories for a variety of reasons unrelated to this dispute, Hans Island soon became the focus of the debate, and was presented as the main reason for this new Canadian policy. [...]

Read more here.
Further reading: Hans Island Liberation Front
Cartoon by Cam Cardow