Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think we can get you some information about the assistance we provide to first nations as they're trying to develop a claim and—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it would apply whether it's over or under $150 million. That may help to answer some of your question.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't think it's mediation if one party is not agreeing; it's more like some form of arbitration or imposed solution.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In the material on our website and in the documentation, there's one paragraph that basically says that for claims over $150 million it's the cabinet process.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a very good way to put it. Indeed, we're concentrating attention and effort over this period to try to make sure we can deal with these lingering outstanding claims.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll ask my colleague to respond, but essentially, it relates to the quantity and quality of the information provided. It is more than just claiming X for x amount of dollars.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, the primary criterion is whether there's a lawful obligation on the part of the federal government.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Only or primary?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The treaty process is continuing. It's quite different from the specific claims process, because it relates to situations where there isn't a treaty in place. There is a treaty commission, and we are working closely with them. The minister recently appointed a special representative to see whether there are ways to try to speed things up and to try to deal with the ones that are closer to settlement as quickly as possible.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a very difficult question to answer. Essentially, the process we have in place envisages a special $2.5 billion over 10 years to try to deal with claims under $150 million, which we would hope and expect would be a large majority of the claims. I don't know that we will ever be able to say we will never see another specific claim in the future.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's on the department's website, and it's in the materials in the specific claims process that are widely disseminated, so it's a good document. The $150 million that was in the Justice at Last initiative really is a bit of a bright-line test. It was an attempt to try to say that we want to put in place a process, an alternative dispute settlement process, that will allow claims that are under a certain amount to proceed more quickly.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm going to ask my colleague from the Department of Justice to answer as well. I think there's an issue around whether all of the claims that you might want to aggregate would indeed be ones where the federal government has a lawful obligation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In some cases they might not be. You may want to deal with them together process-wise, but in fact, vis-à-vis the process itself, they are each individually under $150 million, legally speaking. I'll ask my colleague to respond.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, the process over $150 million, as I said, is really going to cabinet, so it's not a process that has the same kind of timelines as the Specific Claims Tribunal and the process for under $150 million.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just make a few comments and then ask Anik to answer the question about how many times we've met with the AFN. I think if you look at the political agreement, it says that we're “committed to work together to inform ongoing policy work”. So it didn't commit us to work together to finalize any agreement; it was to inform.