"New Credit Lawyer to Head Commission to Settle Native Claims Within Canada"

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Indian commissioner of Ontario will head a federal commission to settle native land claims arising from breached treaty provisions, Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said Monday.

Harry LaForme, an Ojibwa Indian from the Mississaugas of New Credit reserve near Brantford, will head the commission announced in April by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

"Mr. LaForme is certainly no stranger to specific claims policy and process issues," Siddon said in a news release.

The commission was set up to hasten settlement of specific claims - those that arise when treaty provisions are breached, such as failure to pay compensation for expropriated reserve land.

LaForme, an outspoken lawyer who specialized in Indian treaty rights, was appointed Indian commissioner of Ontario in 1989. Last year he said the Ontario commission, set up to award compensation to natives holding valid land claims, had failed because of the "indifference" of government negotiators.