Could Greenland Join Canada? From Satire to Strategy [View all]

https://newsletter.aprogressiveway.com/send-michael-myers-to-greenland-on-secret-mission-revised/


Editor’s note (January 2026):
What began as Trump satire in March 2025 led to an unexpected question: if Greenland seeks independence, what forms could that sovereignty actually take—and why joining Canada may be the best option. Reader responses and follow-up research on my first article pushed its companion post into unexpectedly interesting territory. Given Trump's renewed attention to Greenland, it felt worth revisiting.

I wrote a piece a few days ago on Greenland joining Canada. Being no expert on either country, this began as pure Trump satire, not a genuine proposal. However, after cursory research to make the piece feel more real, this idea sounded, surprisingly, plausible. Readers had interesting notions and actual supportive replies.

What is independence really?

One thread in responses was that Greenland wants independence, not another country. This got my geek up concerning what independence means. Again, no expert, but as it stands Greenland, with home rule, is still a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Denmark maintains sovereignty, controlling foreign affairs, defense, currency, and immigration, and could end self-governance because it granted self-governance. A first step to independence is cutting off Denmark’s sovereignty from Greenland, with the world’s recognition. After that, there are choices.

Greenland could go it alone as one of the smallest countries in the world, by population, with its vast exploitable resources. That does risk descent into oligarchy as extraction-based economies tend to do, if there is not a sovereign wealth fund to distribute benefits to everyone. Or, Greenland could use its newfound agency and choose to integrate into another country in a way that enshrines its sovereignty and provides the democracy its people want to live in. Admission to Canada would be a negotiated process where autonomy is the condition of joining the federation. And Canada, constitutionally, provides much more autonomy than would ever be possible as a U.S. state.

**snip**