Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did prepare a paper, and I think the honourable members will perhaps be relieved that I don't propose to take you line by line through it, but I thought that in light of the question around the study on the Specific Claims Tribunal process, and on issu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, these are important questions. I'll speak first to the honourable member's question about the time it's taking to get the tribunal operational. We're close, but not quite there yet. The act came into force October 2008. I was one of the three judges first appointe

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, on the $150 million, we can't exceed it, but if we've made a decision on validity and it proves that compensation in excess of $150 million is indicated, I think we could hear evidence of that. But we'd be constrained by the cap in any ruling we may make, and the claimant w

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Bear with me for just a moment, sir.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I thank Monsieur Lemay for this question. I have identified in my annual report several areas of concern, as they go to both the reality and the perception of the independence of the tribunal. Plainly, first nations peoples as claimants--and perhaps whether clai

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As for the idea of judges serving part-time, well, of course they will wish to know where are they going to work. Will they use their offices at the courthouses and their accustomed administrative and legal support staff, their law clerks? These facilities are provided by the pro

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There were a number of concerns. We've made very tangible progress on the practical stuff. With a new registrar, we have a lead in our registry now. We've effected some rather significant cost savings.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We're on the same team this morning.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There is no separate budget. This is one of the things I learned on the first day: that the vote has no line item.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman and Ms. Crowder, the number of claims that will qualify for presentation to the tribunal has of course increased since my September 30 report. We're estimating—Ms. Lombard will correct me, perhaps—around 102 qualifying right away, on the basis of rejecti

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, and of course there are many claims in the process, and I gather that the rejection rate historically runs around 35% or 40%, so we can anticipate claims becoming qualified for presentation...a considerable number.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. This is something I hear about but I have no personal knowledge of. What I hear is that there are discussions around this, but I really don't know the status of those. And of course, in the interests of a fair process, participants I think need to be resourced, but I cannot

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman and Ms. Crowder. The only involvement of INAC in the development of the rules we have prepared and put on our website in both official languages was as a member of the advisory committee. Our act provides that the chair can establish an advisory committee. We d

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, Mr. Rickford, this was a subject of quite a bit of discussion in the advisory committee. What happens if the claimant wishes to bring forward new evidence not previously presented to the minister in the assessment of the claim? To my mind, the real question is whether it is