Canada’s secret plot to take over Greenland

There are growing concerns about President Donald Trump’s ambitions to occupy Greenland, concerns that are existential when it comes to the future of that island and of NATO. Amid all of this, it is easy to forget—or, indeed, to not even know—that Canada had its own plans to occupy that island in 1940. Then and now, a variety of factors are tangled up in any motivations to occupy Greenland. These include the island’s strategic location in trans-Atlantic shipping lanes and flight paths, and its substantial mineral reserves. In the spring of 1940, concerns over minerals drove Canada’s interests in Greenland. After Germany occupied Denmark on 9 April of that year, the Aluminium Company of Canada urged Ottawa to develop plans to take Greenland to protect cryolite, a mineral essential to aluminium production. As military historian C.P. Stacy wrote in 1970, “[i]t was felt that a Canadian occupation of Greenland would not meet as much opposition in the United States as would similar British action.” But the plan did in fact meet stiff opposition in Washington. Why? As Stacey went on to write, the Americans told Canada and Britain that the U.S. “did not recognize the right of any third government—including theirs—to occupy or interfere with Greenland.” More bluntly, the Americans said any move towards Greenland was “highly inadvisable.” Sound familiar? In other words, President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration feared, somewhat understandably, that occupying Greenland might encourage Japan’s growing presence in the Pacific. In a 2026 context, and in much different circumstances, one could reasonably ask if the American capture of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela might have the same encouraging effects on other governments seeking to build their hegemonic resumes. Under pressure from Washington in the spring of 1940, Canadians shelved “Force X,” their occupation plan for Greenland. But the scope of hostilities changed the calculus of war. And in mid-June, after Norway had fallen and France was on the precipice, Canada decided to send troops to Iceland. Shipping men and materiel to this smaller North Atlantic island allowed a cautious William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Canadian prime minister, to demonstrate his commitment to the expanding war without risking substantial losses on the war-torn continent. Iceland was a safe bet in the wings of the war’s main theatre. It wasn’t Greenland, but it was close enough. Troops sent to Iceland were called “Z Force.” Led by Brigadier Lionel F. Page, a veteran of Vimy Ridge, “Z Force” comprised troops from the Toronto-based Royal Regiment of Canada, Fusiliers Mont-Royal, and the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (Machine Gun). Their main objective was to block, or at least slow down, what the Allies believed was a dangerous, westward “stepping stone” strategy by Germany. But just being in Iceland, and being seen by the Germans as being there, was likely sufficient in the short term. British forces landed in Iceland on 10 May, and the first of two waves of Canadians arrived in Reykjavik harbour on 16 June. They were deployed to work with the British, but acted as an independent command. This little-known, multi-lingual group of Canadians took on several important tasks in Iceland, despite being saddled with sub-par supplies, such as without poles and boots with thin soles. And their Icelandic-Canadian translation book, with phrases such as “Where can I catch the train?”, was useless in a country without trains. But they prevailed, often in brutal weather. They built tank barriers, airplane runways, and coast-watching stations, among other things. These were vital foundations for a strategic Allied presence in and around Iceland for the rest of the war, and well after. (American troops landed in Iceland in July 1941, months after Canadians had left, and stayed for decades.) “Z Force” also reinforced longstanding cultural ties between Canada and Iceland, although there were some fraught interactions. A total of 2,653 Canadians—76 officers and 2,577 men—served in Iceland between June 1940 and April 1941. Six members of “Z Force” never came home and are buried in Iceland. They are all part of the overlooked legacy of Canada’s original ambitions to occupy Greenland in a time of war.