In what Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale has deemed a 'historical' moment, the provincial and territorial judges involved in the settlement for residential school survivors have approved the court orders which will move the case forward.

'We've reached the first main stage,' Whitehorse lawyer Daniel Shier told reporters outside the Whitehorse courtroom following this morning's hearing.

'I think it's very significant,' he said of the judges and lawyers coming together and working on the settlement.

Today's approval means that residential school survivors will now be given a deadline of Aug. 20 to opt out of the settlement.

The arrangement will see all survivors of approved schools between 1920 and 1997 receive $10,000 for the first year they attended and another $3,000 for every subsequent year.

A separate Independent Assessment Process will replace the current resolution dispute process used to assess independent claims of abuse at the school. A cap has been set for that amount at about $430,000.

If 5,000 survivors opt out of the package by Aug. 20, the federal government can decide whether to move forward with it, Shier explained.

Veale addressed reporters following the hearing, which saw five of the nine judges attend court in Calgary with a teleconference call to others.

Veale stressed the importance of the process, which will see Crawford Class Action Services report to the courts quarterly on the matters.

Crawford also will have unfettered access to documents on the packages going to survivors.

If it's not satisfied with the access provided, it can take it through a court process, lawyer Kirk Baert pointed out in his arguments made in the Calgary courtroom.

Throughout the morning's proceedings, Baert went over the details of the packages, arguing the court has jurisdiction on the matter.

While lawyers will be compensated for the work done leading up to the acceptance of the package, no lawyer will be compensated for any assistance he or she provides to survivors for the Common Experience Package.

They will, however, be able to charge up to 30 per cent on any Independent Assessment Process. The federal government will pay up to 15 per cent of the lawyer fees in those cases.

Shier said 30 per cent is not out of the normal range for a lawyer's fee on the case.

Among other changes to the settlement package, parents and grandchildren have been added to the list of family members who can make Common Experience Package claims on behalf of the deceased.

'That's a huge change,' Shier said.

Any cases that are still under the dispute resolution process will continue under that or survivors can have those claims reassessed under the new matter.

No new claims can be made until after the opting-out period ends in August.

Over the course of the next few months, there will be extensive notification, Shier said.

Shier has been working on residential school cases since 1992.

It's expected the package will bring a significant amount of money into the territory, though it's unknown exactly how many survivors are in the Yukon, Shier noted.