International Polar Year - Commemorative Coin Controversy

Commemorative Coin Controversy

The Royal Canadian Mint's $20 silver coin, launched on July 18, 2007 has evoked one of the darkest moments in the history of polar exploration and rankled Canada's main Inuit organization. The coin was struck to mark the 125th anniversary of the International Polar Year scientific studies and features a "world first" metallic-blue finish meant to mimic the Arctic's icy hues. On one side of the coin is the customary portrait of Queen Elizabeth; on the other, 16th-century British explorer Martin Frobisher and a compass rose from his era, along with images of the ship he sailed in search of the fabled Northwest Passage and an Inuit man paddling his kayak in ice-choked waters. we wil qip a A mint spokesman said the kayaker is simply meant to represent the indigenous people of the North and their role in Arctic exploration. However, the combination of elements recalls an infamous episode from Frobisher's 1576 voyage to Baffin Island and the tragic fate of an unnamed Inuit paddler who was lured aboard the explorer's ship, Gabriel, and kidnapped for transport back to England as proof of the expedition's success in reaching the New World. The Inuit captive, one of the first native North Americans known to have reached Europe, was put on circus-style display in England and became the subject of portraits, including one intended for Frobisher's sponsor, Queen Elizabeth I, before dying — probably of pneumonia or exposure to European disease — only weeks after arriving.