News from around the Nations

United States Mint Announces Designs for 2015 and 2016 Native American $1 Coins

WASHINGTON - The United States Mint recently announced the reverse (tails side) designs selected for the 2015 and 2016 Native American $1 Coins. 

The theme for the 2015 design is "Mohawk high iron workers, builders of New York City and other skylines (from 1886)."  The design depicts a Mohawk ironworker reaching for an I-beam that is swinging into position, rivets on the left and right side of the border, and a high elevation view of the city skyline in the background.  The design includes the required inscriptions United States of America and $1, and the additional inscription Mohawk Ironworkers.  United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) artist Ronald D. Sanders designed the reverse, and United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill will sculpt it.

The theme for the 2016 design is "Code Talkers from both World War I and World War II (1917-1945)."  The design features two helmets with the inscriptions WWI and WWII, and two feathers that form a "V," symbolizing victory, unity, and the important role that these code talkers played.  The design also includes the required inscriptions United States of America and $1.  Artist Thomas D. Rogers, Sr. designed the reverse.  The sculptor-engraver will be selected at a later date.

The obverses (heads sides) of the 2015 and 2016 Native American $1 Coins will continue to feature sculptor Glenna Goodacre's "Sacagawea" design, introduced in 2000.  Inscriptions will be LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST.  The year, mint mark, and E PLURIBUS UNUM will be incused on the coins' edges.       

The Native American $1 Coin Program is authorized by the Native American $1 Coin Act (Public Law 110-82).  The program, launched in 2009, calls for the United States Mint to mint and issue $1 coins featuring designs celebrating the important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the history and development of the United States. 

Robinson-Huron Treaty Chiefs File Statement of Claim Against Ontario and Canada

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON, Sept. 9, 2014 /CNW/ - Chiefs from the Robinson-Huron Treaty territory, acting on behalf of some 30,000 beneficiaries of the 1850 Robinson-Huron Treaty, have taken significant legal action by filing a Statement of Claim naming the Crown in right of Canada and the Crown in right of Ontario regarding the longstanding failure of the Crown to raise annuities as agreed to under the Treaty.

Under the Robinson Huron Treaty, signed on September 9th, 1850, the Anishinabek ("Lake Huron Ojibwa Indians") agreed to share their lands and resources with the newcomers - approximately 35,700 square miles of territory. In return, the Crown agreed to a number of responsibilities including the payment of annuities that were to be augmented from time to time based on use and development of the lands. Treaty beneficiaries currently get $4.00 per year and there has been no increase since 1874. This despite the fact that the Treaty is explicit in stating that the annuities would increase if the resource revenue generated from the territory produced such an amount as to enable the increase without incurring a loss.

The Robinson Huron Treaty territory has yielded vast amounts of revenues from forestry, mining and other resource development activities over the years, yet the annuities remain at a mere $4.00 per year. The Chiefs are seeking an accounting of revenue generated since the Treaty signing; they want the level of annuities increased; and compensation for losses suffered as a result of the Crown's failure to increase the annuities under the Robinson Huron Treaty, as promised. The Statement of Claim asks that the Crown deal "liberally and justly" with their claim, in accordance with the honour of the Crown, and engage in negotiations to settle the claim.