The federal government is struggling to handle the large amount of residential school compensation claims that have been filed in less than two months.

Service Canada said Wednesday that it has been forced to hire more staff and schedule overtime to sort through 71,000 claims that have come in under the compensation deal that came into effect on Sept. 19.

The government agency said it did not expect to receive claims this quickly.

Under the deal, the government agreed to provide roughly $1.9 billion to the former students who say they 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.

The government had hoped to give people cheques within six weeks of an application being filed, but so far has only been able to process 5,000 claims.

Service Canada could not say how long it would take to clear the backlog.

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

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

When the deal came into effect, Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine called it "a turning point in the history of our nation."

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said he hoped the money would "close this sad chapter of history in Canada."

With files from the Canadian Press