Donald Trump’s threats and coercion in opposition to Greenland have stopped — at the least for the second — however the harm and concern ensuing from years of intimidation by the U.S. president has left a deep affect on the island.
Nivi Rosing, 22, the youngest member of Parliament for the self-governing Danish territory, says she hears the nervousness in individuals’s voices continually.
“Individuals are very scared. It is consuming our on a regular basis life,” she instructed CBC Information throughout an interview in her parliamentary workplace within the capital of Nuuk.
Trump began speaking about taking up Greenland as early as 2019 throughout his first time period, however his threats and coersion have dramatically escalated in current months.
The truth that Trump has agreed to let NATO take a major position in Greenland’s army planning, and to have a working group involving the Danish and Greenlandic governments take a look at different U.S. issues has supplied little reassurance, based on Rosing.
As a result of Trump is “so unpredictable,” she says the probabilities of what might occur are hitting the individuals of Greenland onerous.
“Canine homeowners are vaccinating their canine to allow them to go away the nation if there’s any signal of an invasion,” mentioned Rosing.
The island’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen instructed a particular session of Greenland’s parliament this week that Trump nonetheless needs to regulate Greenland, and mentioned individuals should not grow to be complacent.
A dizzying political rise
For Rosing, discovering herself close to the centre of one of many world’s most intense geopolitical standoffs in current reminiscence is the newest chapter in what has been a dizzying political rise that started a yr in the past in Canada.
Initially of 2025, Rosing was a post-secondary scholar in Ottawa, enrolled within the Inuit Research program supplied by Nunavut Sivuniksavut in partnership with Algonquin School.
Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) gives Inuit-focused research for as much as 70 college students a yr with applications specializing in historical past, tradition and human rights.
A Greenlandic Inuk, Rosing moved to Canada simply earlier than the pandemic and accomplished highschool in Victoria earlier than relocating to Ottawa.
She says the academics, curriculum and fellow scholars at NS empowered her to attempt to make a distinction in shaping Greenland’s future.
“[The program] was via Inuit eyes and the way our ancestors used to control these lands and our tradition and therapeutic — and find out how to use our tradition as a device for political selections.”
International leaders have gathered on the Arctic Frontiers Convention in Tromso, Norway, to debate safety within the North and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Greenland’s sovereignty. Gov. Gen. Mary Simon is among the many Canadian audio system on the convention.
Rosing says she determined to take day off from college to run for Greenland’s parliament, or Inatsisartut, within the election final March.
“I used to be considering, ‘perhaps this can be a few months’ break and I will be again,’ ” she mentioned.
As a substitute, she gained her seat for the Inuit Ataqatigiit occasion and went on to grow to be a part of the governing coalition authorities led by Nielsen.
Rosing was appointed to the Overseas and Safety Coverage Committee and has since discovered herself thrust into existential debates about her island’s future.
Excessive-level diplomacy
In January, she was amongst a gaggle of Danish and Greenlandic parliamentarians that met with a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers in Copenhagen.
“We did not include hate,” she mentioned. “We at all times include respect and diplomacy.”
Collectively, Greenland’s political events issued a joint assertion, underscoring that, “We need to be Greenlanders,” not Danes or People.
Rosing met with a CBC Information group after a marathon particular parliamentary session this week about the place talks with the US ought to go from right here.
The Trump administration has mentioned little or no about its present aims, objectives or discussions over Greenland.
Leaders from Greenland and Denmark have mentioned repeatedly that the U.S. should respect so-called “crimson traces,” particularly over sovereignty and the island’s proper to self willpower.
All of Greenland’s political events need independence, however they’re cut up over how briskly the island ought to transfer towards it.
Greenland, which has a inhabitants of 57,000, has been a part of the Kingdom of Denmark for the higher a part of 300 years. In 1953, its colonial standing was formally abolished, and in 2009 was granted an expanded type of self-governance.
Canadian connections
Rosing says she plans to attend the opening of the Canadian consulate in Nuuk this week.
The diplomatic workplace shall be opened by Minister of Overseas Affairs Anita Anand, alongside Canada’s first Indigenous Governor Normal, Mary Simon, who’s Inuk.
International Affairs has mentioned the consulate’s priorities are to strengthen relations between Canada and Greenland, foster private ties and mobility, and improve co-operation on Arctic governance and safety.
Rosing says creating extra people-to-people connections between Canada and Greenland is important to assist construct resilience in opposition to future U.S. threats.
“I would like nearer ties with Canada. If it is cultural, if it is enterprise, if it is training, I feel we need to work with Canada. I feel the consulate is an effective place to start out,” she mentioned.
She famous that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is from the North.
“I feel he is aware of and has skilled how necessary connection is.”
In 2022, Canada and Denmark formally resolved a long-running dispute over the water and land boundary between the 2 nations that centered on Hans Island, close to Greenland’s far north.
As a part of the association, Inuit from each Nunavut and Greenland are permitted freedom of motion throughout the territorial boundary.
Unreserved49:04Greenlandic Inuit and their battle for independence
Inuit activists name for an unbiased Greenland – which means freedom from Denmark and the US. Amidst the newest threats by the US to accumulate Greenland, Inuit are talking out and calling for good relations as an unbiased participant on the world stage. Rosanna hears from Inuit throughout the Arctic concerning the protection of tradition, language and sovereignty.
Jeppe Strandsbjerg, an affiliate professor on the Royal Danish Defence School and the College of Greenland, mentioned Greenlanders try to develop their very own political ties with international locations and a stronger Canadian presence in Nuuk is welcome.
“It is famous and it is a huge deal,” he mentioned.
However getting from Canada to Greenland is tough and costly.
Although Iqaluit and Nuuk are simply two hours away by air, direct flights between the 2 cities have struggled to stay worthwhile.
Air Greenland, the island’s predominant air provider, at present solely gives a as soon as every week seasonal service to Baffin Island in the summertime.
Rosing would finally prefer to return to Ottawa to proceed within the Inuit Research program, however she says Trump could have the ultimate say.
“I feel there may be nonetheless an agenda and [Trump] needs to personal and management Greenland — despite the fact that perhaps it is not via an invasion,” she mentioned.
“My mandate is for 3 extra years, and I do not know what is going on to occur.”
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