Commission cost could top $50 million

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The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples could cost up to $50 million, making it the most expensive commission in Canadian history.

Since it first began hearings in April 1992, the commission has spent more than $13 million, government documents revealed.

A spokesman for the royal commission said the federally sponsored research project examining the conditions of Native life in Canada could hit the $40 million mark, give or take a million, by the time it wraps up in early 1995.

Another $8 million will go towards funding witnesses, said Don Kelly.

The commission has run up the high tab because researchers have had to do a lot of original work, Kelly said. So far, the half-a-dozen commissioners have travelled to more than 1,200 communities throughout Canada listening to thousands of witnesses' testimonies.

As of the end of January 1993, the commission has spent more than $4 million on salaries, $3 million on professional services and $2 million on transportation and communications.

The commission has conducted hearings on Aboriginal just systems, education and housing. Commissioners also recently held special hearings into the problems facing Inuit families relocated to the High Arctic in the 1950s.