Canadian Senator Is Angry About Last Disputed Island

A Canadian senator is urging Ottawa to reaffirm its claim over Machias Seal Island, an uninhabited speck of land that remains the only piece of territory disputed by Canada and the United States. The renewed attention comes after Senator Jim Quinn of New Brunswick objected to an American tour operator's claim that the island is part of the "Maine Coast," the BBC reports. The island, located in a maritime "Grey Zone" between Maine and New Brunswick, hosts thousands of puffins and a handful of rotating Canadian Coast Guard staff who maintain a lighthouse established by the British in 1832. Both Americans and Canadians fish for lobster in the surrounding waters, though there are sometimes clashes.

Machias Seal Island is a key seabird sanctuary, and its only regular visitors are tourists brought by two licensed operators: SeaWatch Tours, a Canadian outfit, and Bold Coast Charter Company, based in the US. The latter's website describes the island as home to the "largest puffin colony on the Maine Coast" and claims its tours are authorized by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Quinn, one of ten senators from New Brunswick, wants the Canadian government to strip the American company of its permit unless it acknowledges that the island is Canadian, the Telegraph-Journal reports.

Quinn questions why Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which administers the island, permits an American company to call the island part of Maine and why that firm is listed on a Canadian government website. The US considers the island to be American territory, the BBC notes. Quinn argues that Canada is facing increasing pressure from its southern neighbor and should be proactive in asserting sovereignty over Machias Seal Island.

"I'm angry," Quinn tells the Telegraph-Journal. "We've got the president of the United States that is attacking our economy, suggesting we become the 51st state, wants to take over different parts of the world, and we're sitting by with the State of Maine doing advertising inferring that Machias Seal Island belongs to Maine." Quinn, who regularly went to the island while serving as a deckhand on a Canadian Coast Guard ship when he was a teenager, notes that the island has the only lighthouse with full-time staff in Canada's Maritime provinces because "we want to maintain our presence to ensure our sovereignty."