'Historic' land-claim shakeup in the works

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice is contemplating fundamental changes to the way aboriginal land claims are settled and suggests the federal government will hand the job to an independent body.

Aboriginal groups have been threatening a summer of protest to highlight the slow process of settling land disputes. A backlog of 800 claims remains unresolved.

That queue will not go away overnight, Mr. Prentice told CTV's Question Period Sunday. But “I have indicated that this spring I intend to bring forward really very significant historic reforms to the specific claims process in this country.”

Part of the solution, said Mr. Prentice, is to introduce a system that citizens of Canada's native bands deem to be legitimate.

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The Assembly of First Nations has called for peaceful actions on June 29 to highlight their grievances. Those protests will be discussed at a special meeting of chiefs that will be held in Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa, this week.