Given the close proximity between the Canadian Arctic Islands and Greenland (which is a self-governing part of Denmark), Canada and Denmark felt it necessary to negotiate a border which was formalized in a treaty that took effect on March 13, 1974. During the negotiations Canadian negotiators indicated that they considered Hans Island to be a part of Canada. The Danes apparently disagreed and, rather than delay the border treaty, left the issue of control of Hans Island out of the treaty. A few years later, beginning in 1980, Canada's Dome Petroleum Company began doing some preliminary surveys around Hans Island and, when this was discovered by the Danes, interest in Hans Island began to heat up.