Again, this is something I've been trying to take a close look at to see what the legislation says in terms of people who have claims submitted, wherever they may be. I can't really speak in general terms, except for the communities I work for and what we've looked at for them.
In Wolf Lake's case--again, more detail is provided in the brief--they submitted their claim in 1996. Around 2000, they went to the Indian Claims Commission. They started out with an inquiry. They went to mediation. Then in the fall of 2006, their inquiry was to be resumed. They were slated to go to an inquiry this year, but a decision was made by the government that they weren't sufficiently advanced in the inquiry process, so they have to sit out now.
It will probably take them about a year before the legislation is passed, then they're going to have to sit out another year, because there are the six months plus another six months. They're probably going to have to wait about two years to get to the tribunal, having been in the system since 1996. There's no telling how long the lineup will be once they get to the tribunal. So in Wolf Lake's situation, they've actually been set back a couple of years. They would be in the full inquiry process as we speak, but they were pulled out of it. They were never really told why or asked about it. They were just told that they were out. That's with respect to Wolf Lake.
With respect to Timiskaming, one of the problems we face is the issue of submission guidelines. That's covered under section 16 of the act, I believe. It gives the minister the discretion to prepare minimum standards for submission guidelines. What we've found is that since “Justice at Last” was announced, the specific claims branch has been trying to unilaterally impose new submission guidelines, without any discussion, that contravene the signed agreement the specific claims branch signed with our tribal council on claims submissions.