Governor General to meet with circumpolar counterparts
Mary Simon to travel to Norway and Denmark before officially opening consulate in Greenland
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, pictured here at Rideau Hall in September, is scheduled to travel to Norway, Denmark and Greenland next week. (File photo by Mike Carroccetto | for Nunatsiaq News)
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon will be Greenland-bound next week to open the Canadian Consulate in Nuuk and meet with leaders.
“The Arctic is stronger when nations work together,” Simon said in a news release issued by her office Wednesday.
Greenland’s fate has been a focus of contention over the past several weeks.
U.S. President Donald Trump renewed threats to annex the region, which is controlled by Denmark. Although Trump seems to have backed down somewhat, citing a “framework” of a possible future deal for some mineral rights, tensions remain high.
Simon’s first stop lands her above the Arctic Circle in Tromsø, Norway, where she will stay Tuesday through Wednesday, the release said.
While there, she plans to attend the Arctic Frontiers Conference, a networking event that gathers scientists, business leaders, policymakers and Indigenous organization representatives from the global North.
Her itinerary has her dividing the rest of her trip between Denmark and Greenland.
In Denmark, she will meet with King Frederik X of Denmark and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.
She will then make her first official trip to Greenland to meet with Prime Minister Jens‑Frederik Nielsen, before attending the official opening of the Canadian Consulate in Nuuk.
Simon’s Greenland trip is scheduled to end Feb. 7.
The gathering of the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” naysayers 🤑
I would vote 51st State and increase our currency by at least 30%. 🇺🇸💰
Circumpolar includes the East as well as Alaska, Canada, and the Nordic lands. I find that there is too much go along to get along when it comes to circumpolar organizations based in and affiliated with Canada. It has been proven again and again that war today is driven one thing by profit, by greed. The well being of peoples is not an issue not when those decisions on war are made at the top levels. We can do much better and much more by charting our own path up here.