Yellowknife (May 01/06) - The federal Conservatives have signed off on a $1.9 billion deal for former residential school students, but remain quiet on when the payouts will start flowing to Northerners.

The relative silence from Ottawa has some Northern leaders worried the money may become tangled in a bureaucratic maze and never reach the oldest pupils.

"We have elders who are dying like flies," said Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya, a long-time residential school activist and former student.

"The government has made a commitment to an early payment," he said Wednesday. "They have an obligation to honour that."

Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice announced April 25 that the much-discussed package had been approved by the Tories, lawyers for dozens of former students and the three churches that ran the schools. The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. signed it on April 24. "The government will now immediately consider the settlement agreements and the interim payments and the timing of those payments," Prentice told the house.

But Prentice ducked reporters after question period on Parliament Hill, according to the Globe and Mail, and the Tories have not announced when the money would reach some of the estimated 80,000 living students.

The AFN estimates there are 6,000-8,000 ex-pupils living in the Northwest Territories. The area was home to nine of the schools which were infamous for their sometimes brutal treatment of aboriginal, Inuit and Metis students.

The deal, a remnant of the former Liberal government, includes a $10,000 payment for each former student, plus $3,000 for each year they attended residential schools. The deal also guaranteed an $8,000 early payment for people over 65.

Bill Erasmus, Northwest Territories regional chief for the AFN, called the agreement historic, but said First Nations will continue to struggle with the legacy of residential schools. "Will this repair the damage that was done?" he asked last Monday. "Probably not, but it's a good start."

Yakeleya said the deal was an acknowledgement that the residential school policy was a deeply-flawed program of "genocide" and "assimilation."

Earlier this month, one Northern media outlet reported that students could have to wait a year before they started seeing payouts. Erasmus said he "hoped" that would not be the case, but the timing is now ultimately in Ottawa's hands.

"It is important that there be movement quickly," he said. "Many people do live in poverty and the money can assist their household."

Officials with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development did not grant an interview request before press time.

Meanwhile, Yakeleya said officials from the territorial government should help spread the word about the compensation package because the news has not filtered through to the smaller communities.

"We have some responsibility to advocate on behalf of our people." Once the government has set up a system to dole out the money, former students should be able to fill out a simple, two-page form to claim the compensation, Erasmus said.