For almost a century, there have been discussions and proposals put forward in Canada to annex the Turks and Caicos Islands. The earliest record appears to be from 1917 when Prime Minister Robert Borden first suggested it.

Since then, the idea has been raised on many other occasions. In fact, both Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan have actually stepped forward and formally invited the Turks and Caicos to join their provinces. Here’s what Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall recently had to say:

“I think we want to be constructive in Saskatchewan. If the Prime Minister’s looking for a way to make this happen and doesn’t want to go through the challenge of creating a province or territory, and Turks and Caicos want to make this happen, just, you know, we’d like a tropical island.”

Presumably this approach would be easier than creating an 11th province or 4th territory. But despite these offers and efforts over the years, the idea has always been ultimately rejected. Following a meeting in May 2014 between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Premier of the Turks and Caicos Rufus Ewing, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird stepped forward and also firmly rejected the idea:

"We’re not in the business of annexing islands in the Caribbean to be part of Canada. So that’s not something that we’re exploring. We’re not looking at any sort of formal association with the islands."

But I think that’s a mistake.

So I wrote a blog post and started this petition. If you feel similarily, I ask that you sign this petition. Please note that this is a realistic request for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to formally explore the annexation of the Turks and Caicos Islands, rather than an overt request to do so.

Thank you for reading.