Play the Marseillaise. Play it!

Over the last few weeks, the Greenland affair has unsettled elected officials in the lesser-known islands of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

Located only 12 miles from the Canadian shores of Newfoundland, 800 miles from Boston, this other North American semi-autonomous territory is France’s last remnant of the former territory of New France, which once covered most of Eastern Canada, Quebec and the interior of North America. It was granted by Britain so that the French kingdom could maintain access to the incredibly rich fishing grounds of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

Despite two deportations of the French population by British forces in 1778 and 1793, the islands were returned once more and settled without interruption since 1816. During the early years of the 20^th century, one Senator Henry Cabot Lodge advocated in favour of annexation of our islands by the United States, but nothing came of it, most likely since treaties and declarations between France and Britain ensured the islands would be returned to Britain were France to abandon its sovereignty.

World War II scholars might remember how Secretary of State Cordell Hull became extremely agitated over De Gaulle’s Free French taking the islands away from Vichy control, even threatening to send the USS Arkansas to remove the “so-called Free French”. With graver matters on the world stage, the urgency of the matter waned, and American public opinion, enamored with the Free French, saved the day.

Recently, the islands’ member of parliament, Stéphane Lenormand focused on the clear parallels between the two territories: “We share two key features with Greenland: a geostrategic position in North America and a comparable status in our relationship with the European Union, as Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and Greenland fall under the same association framework.”

The island’s president, Bernard Briand, also told local media: “To be absolutely clear, this goes beyond mere words: it affirms French diplomacy’s full solidarity with Denmark and the legitimate authorities of Greenland, because defending the sovereignty of other states is a necessary condition for protecting our own.” Briand also called on the Prime Minister of France, Sébastien Lecornu, regarding the possible establishment of a strengthened partnership with Canada, ranging from shared surveillance to a joint battalion.

While the 1942 quarrel over the island’s sovereignty was often qualified as a tempest in a teapot, current events and world affairs have the inhabitants of the islands of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon looking over their collective shoulder.

“Play the Marseillaise. Play it!” — Victor Laszlo