National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine applauded comments by the co-chairman of the Indian Claims Commission that the organization should be dismantled and replaced by a new agency which could act on the growing backlog of land claims. “(He) is well placed to realize that the current system doesn’t work. The commission has no authority. Furthermore, the federal government decides which claims are acceptable and can then reject the recommendation of the commission. Obviously such a process is so perverted as to be ineffectual,” Fontaine said. More than 450 specific claims are backlogged before the commission and at the present rate it will take 50 years to clear that backlog, he said.
