NUNAVUT - Chuck Strahl, minister for Indian and Northern Affairs, was recently in the Northwest Territories and defended the makeup of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which lacks Inuit representation.

"It's only a three-person panel and so the problem is how do you make it a 100 per cent representative panel with only three people on it?" said Strahl during a stop in Yellowknife last Tuesday.

The commission is tasked with collecting the experiences of those who attended Indian Residential Schools for the historical record.

He said given the number of various factors to consider it is difficult task to represent all types of people.

"You've got east, west and North, you've got French and English and other language requirements, you've got geographic issues, gender issues. So with three people it's just hard to find someone that represents every group in the country so that's just the reality we faced," he said.

Strahl said INAC had an independent panel composed of First Nations and aboriginal organizations take a list of several hundred people and cut it down to a short list of recommended individuals for the commission.

"It was just impossible to get every group in the country represented," said Strahl. "With that said, there is obviously going to be a Northern and an Inuit component to this and that's what Justice LaForme has promised."