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The Assembly of First Nations has suggested expanding the residential schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission to five members in an effort to extricate the panel from the mess left by Mr. Justice Harry LaForme's resignation.

The parties to the settlement are still trying to find a new chair after Judge LaForme's resignation last month.

Louise Arbour, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was approached, but declined to pursue it, said Ken Young, director of the Indian residential schools file for the AFN. Edward John, grand chief of British Columbia's First Nations Summit, a long-time aboriginal leader, lawyer and residential school survivor, is now seen as a leading candidate.

The AFN proposal would expand the commission from its original structure of two commissioners and a chair to four commissioners and a chair. It would dilute the influence of remaining commissioners Jane Brewin Morley and Claudette Dumont-Smith, who Judge LaForme said had undermined his authority and tried to outvote him on every issue. Their determination to stay on as commissioners has become a source of controversy, as several native groups have called for a clean slate, and candidates for the top job have expressed reluctance to step into a dysfunctional situation.

Mr. Young, who has been an adviser to national chief Phil Fontaine, said some of the churches support the idea of a five-member panel, and Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl did not oppose it when the national chief raised it.

“The chair has to be replaced and we have to do it as quickly as possible. If there's an appetite for five commissioners, we'll appoint two new commissioners and a chair and have five,” Mr. Young said. “It's beginning to look like more of a possibility as time goes on.”

Mr. Young also said a movement has been launched among chiefs across the country calling for Ms. Morley, a lawyer, and Ms. Dumont-Smith, a native health-care worker, to be removed from their posts.

He has urged the two commissioners to defend themselves against Judge LaForme's criticisms, but they declined to be interviewed Friday. Instead, a commission spokeswoman supplied a statement from Oct. 21 in which the commissioners said they were saddened and disappointed by Judge LaForme's resignation.

A motion on removing the commissioners is expected to be brought forward at an AFN special assembly in Ottawa next month. Mr. Fontaine has so far expressed his support for Ms. Dumont-Smith and Ms. Morley, but if the resolution passes, he will have to accept the wish of the majority, Mr. Young said.

“It's best that the two commissioners do something positive with respect to their interests as appointed commissioners. And they ought to do it quickly,” Mr. Young said.

He added that the AFN at one point believed that Ms. Arbour might be interested in stepping in as chair, but was told she felt she didn't have time.

Mr. John, who attended the Lejac residential school near Fraser Lake, B.C., said it's an honour to be considered for the job.

“I've been involved in these issues in B.C. going back to the 1980s, so I have a good understanding of the issues,” he said.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has a five-year mandate to gather the stories of the 80,000 residential school survivors in Canada.

The parties to the settlement have been meeting with former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci in an effort to negotiate a process for selecting a new commission chair. They are expected to meet again next week, but a new chair may not be named until 2009, Mr. Young said.