Iqaluit (Apr 24/06) - When the settlement package for residential school survivors was released last year, many cautioned against people getting their hopes up.

Jim Prentice, minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, said the government is waiting for a copy of the final report on residential schools before approving any payments. Residential school survivors say the government should be handing out advance payments to elders because they are the ones who need it now, before they die and never see a penny. - Chris Windeyer/NNSL photo No Advances The agreement in principle to pay settlements to residential school survivors was released on Nov. 23, 2005. That means as of today, Monday, April 24, 2006, elders have been waiting for their early payments for 153 days. The Liberal Deal: These are some of the terms in the Residential School Agreement in Principle, signed by the Liberal government on Nov. 23, 2005. The Conservative government has already stated it will not be issuing advance payments for elders. The terms included: $1.9 billion in total spending $8,000 in advance payments for elders (65-years-old and older) $10,000 for everyone who attended a residential school, plus $3,000 for every year they attended $125 million for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation $60 million for public education and recording the history of residential schools $10 million for events and memorials to commemorate the schools.

It looks like that was a wise move; 153 days later and the payments have not appeared.

Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice may have his reasons for not following through on the Liberal commitment, but Ernie Bernhardt doesn't want to hear them, he wants results.

Bernhardt is a survivor of the residential school system, and works with the Kugluktuk Residential School survivors group. They have 168 members, each with a horror story to tell. Somewhere between 40 and 60 of those people are over 65 years old, and would have received the early payment.

In Bernhardt's opinion, the elders suffered the most and they should get paid first.

"In the 1920s, '30s and '40s it was different, it was worse. You couldn't come home for the summer or Christmas. Their parents were leading a nomadic lifestyle. The boat couldn't just find their families. If they did make it home, it was to a foreign land and people," said Bernhardt.

"They need to be compensated before they leave this world. The pain is different for them."

Bernhardt spent 21 years in the residential school system. "From 10 months old until I was 15. Then I stayed an extra five years until I was 21. When I got there, I didn't leave the yard for years," said Bernhardt.

He doesn't even like the term "residential school."

"That's a government word. I was sent to a convent," said Bernhardt. He is two years shy of the 65 years needed to qualify for the early cheque.

His 21-year saga helps the other victims open up to him.

"When you ask them (the elders) how they were treated, their eyes become glassy. We may be small in numbers, but what we lost was huge. It was our whole culture," said Bernhardt.

Speaking to reporters in Yellowknife, Prentice had little concrete to offer elders.

The new Indian and Northern Affairs Minister said the compensation deal announced by the Liberal government in November 2005 required a final documents from all parties involved in the settlement and approval from courts in seven provinces.

To date, neither of those things has happened, though Prentice said he expects to see a copy of the final agreement "in the next few days."

"We'll be in a position following that to deal with issues such as interim payments and the court approval process."

Bernhardt doesn't mind waiting for the elders to get compensated first, and neither does Johnny Cookie.

Cookie is from Sanikiluaq and attended residential school as well.

"They should get their cheques before anyone else does. They could pass away before we do," said Cookie.

"There are a lot of unemployed guys my age who could really use even one quarter of that money," said Cookie.

Steven Cooper represents more than 400 former residential school students, and wasn't surprised with the early payments being cancelled. Weather delays had him trapped in Arviat when News/North spoke with him.

"The biggest frustration is certainly the fact that the elders' advance payments have been unnecessarily delayed. The new government is now saying that the advance payments will be paid only after the whole deal gets cabinet approval," said Cooper.

Prentice mentioned to media that one law firm was holding up the process, a claim that Cooper disputes.

"The advance payment to the elderly has nothing to do with court approval and nothing to do with legal fees. Cabinet is free to approve that advance payment at anytime," said Cooper.

- With files from Chris Windeyer