On a bitterly cold recent morning in the Canadian Arctic, about 70 people took to the streets in Nunavut, waving signs that read “We stand with Greenland” and “Greenland is a partner, not a purchase.” The protest highlighted how, for Indigenous peoples across the Arctic, the battle over Greenland has become a wider reckoning, pitting their long-fought rights against a global push for power.
Donald Trump’s tug-of-war over Greenland recalled “centuries of imperialism by different nation states but also colonisation by different actors,” said Natan Obed, president of Canada’s national Inuit organisation, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. “Inuit have had to figure out how to maintain our society, our culture and our self-determination in the midst of other people wanting different things from us or from our lands and territories.”
Obed said the overtures from the United States made him “incredibly worried that we are on the precipice of another age of disrespect for our collective rights.” He singled out the focus on Greenland’s mineral wealth and defence positions as “the scariest part of the rhetoric.” He added: “I did believe we were beyond this central premise that if Indigenous peoples do not improve our land based on the criteria of imperialist actors, that somehow we do not have self-determination.”
In Greenland, residents have described Trump’s statements about “buying” or “taking over” the territory as a return to a time when Indigenous lands were seen solely as commodities. Sara Olsvig, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and a former leader of Greenland’s pro-independence party, said: “In the increased tension between great powers, our concern is that the Arctic is portrayed as an asset or as an empty ice desert. To us it is our homeland.”
Olsvig stressed that Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, not owned by Denmark, and cannot be sold. “Not repeating the wrongdoings of past imperialism is important,” she said, adding: “There is no such thing as a better coloniser.”
In Alaska, Inuit have followed the situation closely. Marie Greene, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council – Alaska, said: “At first it was unbelievable, then it became heartbreaking as we heard about our people, especially kids and elders, worrying about being invaded.” Vivian Korthuis, also of the council, said: “For Inuit, peace in the Arctic is not an abstract principle; it is about protecting our homelands, our families, and the future of our children.”
