One of the two remaining commissioners on the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission is challenging Justice Harry LaForme's interpretation of the commission's power structure, saying her role was not to just support his decisions.

Claudette Dumont-Smith said Wednesday the commission was set up not to be hierarchical in nature.

"It doesn't say that the chair would have more powers than the other commissioners," she said.

"I came onboard thinking that we would arrive at developing the vision, developing the mission, coming to any kind of discussions and decisions by way of consensus because that is the aboriginal way of arriving at decisions.

"However, that was not the way that was perceived by Justice Harry LaForme."

In his resignation letter earlier this week, LaForme wrote that the commission is on the verge of paralysis and doomed to failure.

He said an "incurable problem" was that the other two commissioners refused to accept his authority as chair and were disrespectful.

Dumont-Smith said she was also stunned to read his criticism that the commissioners wanted to focus primarily on uncovering and documenting truth while he wanted to have an emphasis on reconciliation between aboriginal Canadians and non-aboriginal Canadians.

"That shocked me when I read that in the letter because we never had that discussion," she said.

"The purpose of [the commission] is to hear the stories of the survivors is, to document the stories of the survivors. I give it equal weight as to the reconciliation component. I don’t give one more weight than the other."

There was no friction

Dumont-Smith also said that LaForme didn't want to meet with church representatives and aboriginal leaders for fear of compromising the commissioners' independence.

"We feel, I feel that we have to work with the parties of the settlement agreement. It's important that we keep a strong link with them."

Dumont-Smith said there was no friction and she had a good working relationship with him.

"We only met about six times but he told me at least twice that he was very happy that I was one of the selected commissioners."

The other remaining commissioner, Jane Morley, said any disagreements could have been overcome if LaForme had been willing to sit down and talk with them.

"It's unfortunate that we weren't able to resolve them in face-to-face meetings, we hadn't met since Aug. 26, we've been dealing through intermediaries."

Notes ironic nature of split

Morley said it's ironic that the three people charged with the search for truth and reconciliation couldn't reconcile their own differences.

"The fact that we had those difficulties hopefully will be a learning experience for all of us and we will move on.

"And that's what we have to do because this isn't about one individual, it's not about three individuals, it's about the survivors who have hopes for this process."

The commission was created as the result of the court-approved Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement that was negotiated in 2006 between former students, churches, the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal organizations.

The commission, which was established in June with the aim of completing its work in five years, is not charged with determining innocence or guilt but with creating a historical account of the residential schools, helping people to heal and encouraging reconciliation.