French outpost off Canada in the spotlight as Macron hosts Carney on symbolic visit

President Emmanuel Macron embarks on a rare and symbolic visit to a remote French territory in the North Atlantic on Saturday, hosting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at a time of growing tensions with Washington.

The three-day visit to Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a three-island archipelago of under 6,000 people just 25 kilometres (15 miles) off Newfoundland, will be the first by a French president in over a decade.

The trip to France's only remaining possession in North America, a vestige of the huge territories Paris once controlled in what is now Canada and the United States, carries immense symbolic resonance.

Macron insists that US President Donald Trump's second mandate has served to prove his point Europe needs to be more sovereign, especially on security.

Against the background of an intensifying spat with Trump who has even threatened to annex Canada, Carney has welcomed a proposal for his country to become the European Union's first "associate member".

Read moreEU chief invites Canada to be first-ever ‘associate member’

He is due to join Macron on Sunday as the first Canadian premier to visit the territory. The last visit by a French head of state was by François Hollande in 2014.

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'Same values'

The archipelago is one of several strategically-located French overseas territories that span the globe.

"Saint Pierre and Miquelon is not some insignificant remnant of empire to be managed piecemeal. It is France and Europe in North America," said French senator Annick Girardin, a former overseas territories minister.

Trump, who has repeatedly described Canada as the "51st" US state and dismissed its premier as "governor Carney", earlier this month posted an image with a map of North America in which areas including Canada were coloured in with the US flag.

Carney has in turn described his nation as "the most European of non-European countries".

Watch moreThe Debate: The 28th state? Canada draws closer to EU

The joint visit will underscore that Canada and France countries share "the same values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for the sovereignty of nations", the French presidential palace said.

"In a world marked by the return of power politics, geopolitical tensions and new forms of dependency, France and Canada share a common ambition: to work together, and with all countries that share these values, to strengthen their capacity to make decisions and act independently," the Élysée said.

Carney's office quoted him as saying that "Canada and France share more than a border. We share a history, common values, and a resolute commitment to building a more secure and prosperous world. In an uncertain world, President Macron and I understand the importance of this relationship".

'Mere spectator'?

Saint Pierre and Miquelon has economic and social problems familiar to many remote territories across the globe.

In what is widely regarded as France's first climate-driven community relocation, the village of Miquelon has started moving inland to escape the growing threat of sea level rise, with a second phase due to begin.

The population is falling, deaths outnumber births and young people leave to study in mainland France or Canada and often do not come back.

The biggest blow was dealt by the collapse of the fishing industry after Canada imposed a moratorium on cod fishing and France's exclusive economic zone shrank after a legal ruling.

"The fishing industry has a future in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon if it restructures," said Girardin.

Calling on France to seek to extend its rights over the seabed, she said: "France must decide whether it wants to be a subarctic power or a mere spectator."