Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice is reportedly putting the finishing touches on a plan that would give a federal commission the power to speed up the process for resolving aboriginal land claims.
Sources have confirmed to The Globe and Mail that the plan would give the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) independent power to make legal rulings on historic treaty violations.
Currently, the ICC has the right to investigate land claim issues but can only make recommendations to government about how to resolve disputes.
The government then decides whether it agrees with the suggestions and then whether negotiations should take place.
The shift in power would mark a significant change in policy as many have called for the final say to be taken away from Ottawa.
A recent Senate report indicates that the change could dramatically speed up settlement claims that have become severely backlogged.
Prentice, who served as ICC co-commissioner in 2001, recommended at that time that the ICC be given independence to make the binding decisions, reports The Globe.
"It is ... time for the government of Canada to initiate full institutional reform, and create a fully independent land claims tribunal, empowered to adjudicate these difficult historic grievances in a binding way," he told the standing committee on aboriginal affairs. "All Canadians, whether aboriginal or non-aboriginal, deserve as much."
On Tuesday, Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine warned Ottawa that progress must be made quickly on hundreds of land claim issues in order to prevent a summer of protests.
The warning came as Chief Terry Nelson, of Roseau River First Nation in Manitoba, issued a threat to CN Rail that he will attempt to blockade the rail line connecting Eastern and Western Canada next month during a national day of action on June 29.
Fontaine, who does not support the rail line protest, urged non-Aboriginals to join natives for a day of peaceful protests instead.
