Thank you, Mr. Shields. We served on the heritage committee together, and I recall that for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is now on September 30, you and I worked very closely, and I always appreciated your insight.
Look, 50 years is a long time, but the work we started with the framework agreement to get here was a three-year process. There is pending litigation, which is aside from this. The recognition of title happened over 20 years ago. Ultimately, we're moving at a much faster pace. I agree that in order to have economic reconciliation, we need an element of certainty and we need an element of self-determination that will enable the Haida people to have assertion over their territory in line with principles such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
I believe we are in a moment in time when the movement toward the resolution of claims and past, outstanding discussions is at unprecedented rate. It's still at a frustrating rate, but it's still unprecedented in terms of how governments operate. Just by way of example, roughly 720 claims have gone through the specific claims process since 1972. We have solved half of them in the last nine years alone. Almost 50% of the claims that were resolved in the specific claims process have been resolved in the last nine years. Could it have been 75%? I wish it were. I think we are in very different place from where we started. We are moving at a pace that is much faster.
In some respects, I share your frustration. I would like to see this move a lot faster. Part of the challenge when we talk about treaty negotiations or comprehensive negotiations is that we sometimes get stuck on an issue, and because we can't move that issue, everything else stops. The approach here enables us to have multiple discussions on a range of issues. The ones we can land on and the ones we have agreement on, we conclude, and we move to the next issue and the next issue. I think that's the unique nature of where we are right now.