Macron Hosts Canada's Carney on Symbolic Visit to French Atlantic Outpost
French President Emmanuel Macron began a three-day visit to the remote archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon on Saturday, to be joined Sunday by Canadian PM Mark Carney, amid rising tensions between Ottawa and Washington.
French President Emmanuel Macron started a three-day visit on Saturday to Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a small archipelago of under 6,000 people located about 25 kilometres off Newfoundland, Canada. It marks the first visit by a French president to the territory in over a decade, following François Hollande's trip in 2014.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will join Macron on Sunday, becoming the first Canadian premier ever to visit the territory. Saint Pierre and Miquelon is France's only remaining possession in North America, a remnant of the vast territories France once controlled across the continent.
Political backdrop
The visit comes against a backdrop of growing tension between Canada and the United States. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to Canada as the "51st state" and called Carney "governor," and recently posted a map of North America showing Canada in US flag colours. Carney has described Canada as "the most European of non-European countries."
The Élysée Palace said the visit underscores that France and Canada share an ambition to strengthen their capacity to make decisions and act independently amid the return of power politics and geopolitical tension. Carney said Canada and France share history, values, and a commitment to building a more secure and prosperous world.
Local challenges
Saint Pierre and Miquelon faces problems common to remote territories: a declining population, more deaths than births, and young people who leave to study in mainland France or Canada and often don't return. The village of Miquelon has already begun relocating inland to escape rising sea levels, in what is regarded as France's first climate-driven community relocation.
The collapse of the fishing industry, after Canada imposed a cod fishing moratorium and a legal ruling shrank France's exclusive economic zone, dealt a major blow to the territory. Former overseas territories minister Annick Girardin called on France to extend its rights over the seabed and decide whether it wants to be a subarctic power or merely a spectator.
