Foreign Affairs Minister Opens New Consulate in Greenland

Canada has officially opened its new consulate in Greenland, a move that Ottawa says will bolster cooperation on Arctic governance and security.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand attended the opening in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk on Feb. 6 alongside Governor General Mary Simon. Simon is part Inuit, sharing a similar heritage to many Greenlanders who are Inuit, better known there as Kalaallit.

Anand helped raise a Canadian flag outside the consulate to mark its official opening, which was also attended by Canada’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark Carolyn Bennett and Arctic Ambassador Virginia Mearns. The flag raising was followed by the crowd singing “O Canada.”

The new consulate is meant to strengthen bilateral and commercial relations between Canada and Greenland, which is a self-governing Danish territory, and enhance cooperation on Arctic governance and security, Foreign Affairs Canada said in a Feb. 4 statement. It will also offer services to Canadians in Greenland.

Anand was in Denmark prior to the consulate opening in Greenland. She met with Denmark’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen during a Feb. 5 visit to Copenhagen. The two discussed ways to increase engagement on shared interests such as quantum and clean energy, defence cooperation, and support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Anand’s trip to Greenland came as American and Canadian aircraft and personnel completed a training operation at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said Operation Noble Defender enhanced defence capabilities in the Arctic, building on defensive cooperation between the United States, Canada, and Denmark.

Canada’s Arctic Foreign Policy, a document that Foreign Affairs released in December 2024, said Ottawa would open new consulates in Anchorage, Alaska, and Nuuk, Greenland, to increase cooperation among Canada’s Arctic partners in North America.

Anand’s trip to Greenland came as U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to acquire Greenland in recent weeks. On Jan. 17, he threatened to impose 10 percent tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland until a deal was reached for the purchase of the island. He said the tariffs would increase to 25 percent on June 1 if a deal was not reached by then.

Trump has said the Arctic territory is needed for U.S. national security to defend against Chinese and Russian threats in the Arctic, because the island is located between key Russian military assets and North America.

Trump announced on Jan. 21 that he would not impose the Feb. 1 tariffs after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Davos, Switzerland. The president said the framework for a future deal for Greenland had been formed.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s said Canada “strongly opposes” tariffs over Greenland, during his Jan. 20 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He called for “focused talks to achieve our shared objectives of security and prosperity in the Arctic.”

In an apparent reference to the United States, Carney said great powers had started using “economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.” Carney called for countries and companies to not comply with the new system, and said middle power countries should build alliances.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.