While a new federal government program has promised almost $2 billion toward compensation and healing for former students of Indian residential schools, it's not clear where the money will come from.

The program looks like a good beginning, according to Joe Linklater, chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin Chief First Nation. However, he warns, promises like this have been made before.

There have been funding announcements in the past, he said, that turned out to be a combination of new money and old money re-titled.

'We've heard the announcement that all of this money is going towards residential school compensation and programs and so on,' he said in an interivew.

'But it remains to be seen whether that is all new money or just money re-profiled from other programs,' he said.

The Star was unable to contact anyone from the office of Anne McLellan, the deputy prime minister and member of the Commons' aboriginal affairs committee, before the federal government fell in a non-confidence last week.

No one from her office will speak to the media about the money trail at this time due to rules involving what can and cannot be said during election times.

The money is there and has been earmarked, according to Sarah Mangione, communications and public affairs officer for Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada.

'It's been approved by cabinet, the money is set aside. It's there; it just has to go through the court,' she said.

As to where the money would be coming from, she could not say.

It is not clear if the minister's office would have disclosed the source of the money even if the government had not fallen.

Jim Prentice, the Conservative critic for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, said the Liberals had originally promised $1.7 billion for the previous program, called Alternative Dispute Resolution.

They have now slated $1.9 under the new agreement.

'There are very few people that believe that this finally will cost only $1.9 billion,' Prentice said in an interview. ' I've heard most people think it's more like $4 billion.'

Prentice agrees that there have been cases when the ruling Liberals promised new money for first nations programs which, in the end, was old money re-routed.

The most recent example, he said, was a $700-million grant for aboriginal health projects about a year ago.

Not a cent of the money was paid out, he said. The funding was then re-promised at the recent first ministers meeting in Kelowna, B.C., which involved aboriginal chiefs, the 13 first ministers and Prime Minister Paul Martin.

'That has been a problem with the Liberals in the past,' Prentice said.

'They have repeatedly promised aboriginal Canadians settlements and then, when the settlement is sort of finally arranged, it turns out that the money comes from another source, another portfolio.'

If the Conservatives were to come into power after the Jan. 23 election, he said, the agreement would be upheld as long as the courts approved the final version first.

Mangione clarified, however, that regardless of which party is in power, the agreement is binding. This is because it is signed by the Government of Canada, not by any specific political party.

The federal NDP supports the agreement, according to aboriginal affairs critic Pat Martin.

Martin said in an interview he believes the Liberal government has put new money aside for the residential schools compensation package.

'As far as the residential school compensation package itself�- that money has been earmarked and set aside for at least two years. So there is no fear that it's going to be paid out at the expense of some other social spending for first nations.'

However, he agreed with Prentice that at the recent first ministers' meeting, there was confusion over whether other funding announcements were really new or simply old money re-profiled.

Martin also criticized the timing of the announcement, saying it was politically motivated.

The year-long study, conducted by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci, was unnecessary, he said.

'They wanted Justice Iacobucci to spend a year studying how it should roll out. That was just buying time until it was politically advantageous for them, around an election,' Martin told the Star.

'It is a shame that social justice for these people had to wait until it was politically convenient for the Liberals.'

Linklater also said the timing of the announcement is likely tied to the Liberals' political ambitions in the upcoming election.

'This seems to be a bit of an election announcement,' he said.

'On the surface, it appears to be a good beginning, but we'll see when everything shakes out whether we're really ahead of the game or not.'