NORTHWEST ANGLE, Minn. — For the second time in about 20 years, a movement is underway to transfer a tiny piece of the United States to Canada.
Northwest Angle, on Lake of the Woods, is part of Minnesota but is isolated from the rest of the state by water. The only access by land is through Manitoba,
The geographic peculiarity was created by an error on a survey map which U.S. and British negotiators used in 1783 when they drew the international boundary following the American Revolution.
A petition submitted to a section of the White House website seeks to "Make America great by correcting this critical survey error."
It wasn't immediately clear on Wednesday who started the petition for the U.S. to "Give Canada back the Northwest Angle located in Manitoba."
The We The People section of the website was created in 2011 under former President Barack Obama. It allows Americans to submit petitions that are reviewed and responded to by the administration if they meet a threshold of support.
Achieving 100,000 signatures in 30 days will result in an official response within 60 days.
As of mid-morning Thursday, 2027 people had signed the petition since it went online on Sunday.
Only about 120 people live in Northwest Angle. The petitioners state that the residents "are native to Canadian soil."
In 1998, some Minnesota resort owners on Lake of the Woods backed a constitutional amendment that would allow Northwest Angle to secede in order to join Canada.
The Chicago Tribune noted, however, that it was a "largely bogus" effort.
The resort operators were trying to get the U.S. government's attention, and its support for their fight against Ontario fishing regulations which they felt discriminated against their businesses.
