The dispute is perplexing. Because it has already been agreed that the island will have no territorial sea, there is no possibility to extend one or the other nation’s claims for offshore drilling or fishing rights. One suspects that Canada’s unyielding position today has more to do with its claim to the Northwest Passage than to Hans Island itself. Canada appears to feel that losing its claim to Hans Island may set a precedent for challenge to the more important trans-oceanic passage through the heart of the High Arctic. The United States, for one, has always claimed the Northwest Passage to be an international waterway.

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Facta non verba. "Deeds, not words"