Poor government records may prevent some former residential school students from receiving their full compensation from the federal government, according to the Assembly of First Nations.

About 60 per cent of compensation claimants are not receiving the full amount they are requesting because the federal government cannot find records proving their attendance at a residential school, said Ken Young, a legal adviser for the assembly.

But he said it should not be up to claimants to prove when they went to school.

"Canada is responsible for the records," Young said Thursday. "For Canada to now attempt to place the onus on survivors [is] totally unacceptable, and that actually lets Canada off the hook."

Young told Dene Nation chiefs in Yellowknife that 35,000 payments have gone out across the country to date, with about 500 in the Northwest Territories.

About 80,000 former students are estimated to be eligible to receive compensation, which includes a $10,000 payment for the first year a person attended a residential school, plus $3,000 for every subsequent year they were enrolled.

Average payments are expected to be $28,000, but some may qualify for payments of up to $275,000.

Former students applying for compensation may be asked to give additional information to help the government, Young said, such as photographs, a description of the school they attended or the names of the principal or staff members.

Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus, who is also the Assembly of First Nation's N.W.T. regional chief, said he has been telling claimants who have not received their full amounts not to get discouraged.

"If, for example, the federal government doesn't have their records, the territorial government most likely will," Erasmus said. "If not, then the church also may have their records. So there are more than one avenue."

Young said any former students who cannot reach an agreement with the federal government over the duration of their residential school attendance can always appeal the decision.

Northern Stores allow cheques to be cashed

As part of the compensation package, Ottawa agreed to provide roughly $1.9 billion to the former students who claim to have endured sexual, physical and psychological abuse while attending 130 federally-funded Indian residential schools that were run by churches from the 1870s to the 1970s.

Some compensation claimants in the northern territories have cashed in their compensation cheques at Northern and NorthMart grocery stores across the North.

As of earlier this week, 15 cheques had been processed with the retail chain, which is owned by the Northwest Company.

Northern Canada vice-president Michael McMullen told CBC News that the company is waiving a 1.5 per cent personal cheque-cashing commission for those cashing in their compensation.

While stores can only give out a maximum of $2,500 in cash at one time, the rest of the money can be transferred onto debit cards, credit cards or store credit.

Instead of charging the commission, which would have taken large chunks out of claimants' payments, McMullen said they will be charged a $3 fee per store debit, or CashLink, card. Such cards can hold up to $10,000.

"The average cheque has been around $17,000, and the average fee for the entire transaction is about $6 — and that's when they load two link cards," McMullen said.