$58 million royal Commission report too late to be useful - Irwin

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Canada will continue to fund the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples even though its final report may come too late to be of any use.

Indians Affairs Minister Ron Irwin said the report will be received in early 1996, past the mid-point of his mandate. Any recommendations the commission will make will be difficult to implement because of the time lines, he said.

The report will be delayed because the commissioners need more time to consider accumulated research, said co-chair Rene Dussault. By the time the report is printed and translated, more than a year could elapse past the deadline.

"I would prefer a report now. I need it now. They have decided they need another year. My preference is now. I am stuck with a year and I will have to live with that," Irwin said the House of Commons.

Funding will continue because the commission is now in the final phases of its work, Irwin said. He criticized the commission's $58 million budget, saying the money could have been spent on "the poorest of Canada's poor."

"If I had my druthers I would build a thousand houses with the $58 million," he said.

He also criticized the high pay the commissioners are receiving for their work. Co-chair Georges Erasmus receives between $600 and $700 per day.

Irwin blamed the commission on former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He said the Liberal's policies on Aboriginal affairs had also thrown a monkey wrench into the commission's work, because it became necessary to keep up with changes like the government's recognition that the inherent right to self-government is protected in the Constitution.

Reform Party MP John -Duncan urged the government to instruct the commission to file its report immediately. Irwin said the commission's work was independent of government and Indian affairs is not in a position to make that demand.