Native Rights
Tradition and native rights have been violated. The government has broken it own laws.
Before the 16th of August 2007, it was well-known and widely practiced that the native inhabitants of Greenland had the common right to hunt, fish and collect minerals anywhere they pleased on their island, as it was a tradition. Where ever there isn’t an exclusive exploitation license for an operating mine with a fence around it for a specific mineral, Greenlanders enjoyed rights of access guaranteed by law and custom. Those exceptions are rare, indeed.
Unlike the U.S.A., or Canada, in Greenland we do not hold land as private property that we can buy and sell, or give to the next generation. There are no so-called mining claims, like in the “Wild West”, where they would shoot trespassers.
Communally, we all own the land (or does the land own’s us?!). Greenlanders have the right to take those minerals that we can hand mine and carry. Such as we always have done, like our fathers before us.
Something has changed.
In 2004, the head of the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP), and his staff, told the first management of the Canadian ruby exploration company about the right’s of the Greenlandic population to go about and collect ruby and hunt anywhere they wanted. The BMP made sure the mining company knew that the law permitted Inuit the traditional collecting, working and selling of the world-famous “Fiskenaesset Ruby” and Pink Sapphire. Take it or leave it... The company didn’t leave.
The BMP arbitrarily changed their minds and policy in 2007 without notice!
In co-ordination with the Canadian mining company, the Greenland Police sailed an expensive police ship with crew and three (3) armed policemen and a BMP official down from the Capitol of Nuuk to the village of Fiskenaesset. From there, the BMP and police escort flew the last distance to the ruby fields in the Canadian exploration company’s helicopter to serve the Inuit a written order to stop all activity. The people were told to leave or face arrest. They had to leave their camp behind and walk home.
Official Reason according to the Canadian Company and BMP: five people collecting rocks, is too many! We say: “More than 56.000 people (population of Greenland) have the right!” Later, the five people were told to forget about it !?! later they mentioned safety, weeks later.