The British Columbia government is within "weeks" of taking back timber from forest licensees and handing some of it over to First Nations, Forests Minister Mike de Jong said Tuesday.

The government plan could see up to six million cubic metres of wood a year -- rivaling the volume harvested by B.C. forest giant Canfor -- placed in the hands of B.C. aboriginals.

De Jong told a meeting of the First Nations Summit in North Vancouver that legislation is pending to take back timber, which he then intends to allocate to meet policy objectives.

Taking back tenure on the scale Victoria is proposing is a historic first, the minister said.

"The government will have to have the courage to address something that no government before it has been prepared to do, and that is a significant re-allocation of timber rights. I believe the government is ready to take that step."

De Jong said the government has already created "tools" for getting timber into the hands of First Nations, specifically legislation permitting the direct awarding of timber. Seven First Nations have already received timber under the direct award legislation.

"One of the remaining tools that I do not yet have is an allocation of annual allowable cut but my hope is that in the weeks ahead -- and I should say weeks, not months -- that I will be in a position to acquire that tool as well. And then our challenge is to put those tools to work in a way that benefits the people that we represent."

Summit leaders were cool to the timber proposal, however, saying giving trees to them does not meet court-ordered requirements that the government consult and accommodate First Nations.

"Your sense of urgency causes us some concern if the legal interests we have are not accommodated," Grand Chief Edward John said.

The native leaders also wanted to know what the government has done to alleviate worries in resource towns that the tenure turn-over will cause economic turmoil for non-natives.

Some leaders urged the minister to put his proposed forest policy changes on hold until he has consulted more thoroughly with First Nations.

In his address, the forests minister said the policy changes are going ahead but he avoided putting numbers on the take-back because the government fears any figure would then become a floor for future negotiations.

De Jong has already told forest licensees, however, that he intends to take 20 per cent from them, which would be about 15 million cubic metres of wood if the take-back is provincewide.

How that harvest is to be divided is still being discussed but the figures being used most frequently are:

- First Nations are to get around eight per cent, which would be six million cubic metres of timber.

- Resource communities are to get about two per cent, which would be 1.5 million cubic metres of wood, to address their concerns over economic disruption.

- Small business is to get the remaining 10 per cent, which would be 7.4 million cubic metres.

The small business portion, along with 10 per cent that small business already controls, would be used to create a timber auction, along with any timber First Nations or communities wished to put up for auction. There could be variations between the coast and the interior in the amount of timber set aside for auctions.

By establishing a timber auction -- which would be used to set prices for timber remaining under control of the major licensees -- Victoria hopes to defuse the softwood lumber dispute by satisfying American allegations that the province subsidizes timber prices here.

It's a complex strategy, linking different policies and divergent aspirations. The native leaders were not the only ones Tuesday to express concerns over the government's insistence to push ahead.

Rick Doman, president of Doman Industries Ltd., said a 20-per-cent timber take-back will lead to increased costs and decreased employment for forest licensees.

"He is going to cause a real problem going forward," Doman said. "There is no dealing with 20 per cent of our staff having to be laid off, there is no dealing with mill closures."

Other licensees have expressed concerns but want the government to get on with the changes it has been proposing, saying the status quo is no longer an option.

Opposition from First Nations revolved mostly around a dispute that surfaced at the summit over what the government and First Nations in the northern half of the province had already agreed to do.

The Northwest Tribal Treaty Nations, comprising 60 bands in the region from Prince George to the Yukon, said they have an agreement to discuss:

- Shared decision-making;

- At least 50-per-cent revenue sharing;

- A minimum 50 per cent tenure take-back from licensees;

- Compensation for resources already taken;

- A voice in shaping new forest policies.

De Jong said the agreement was to establish an on-going forum where First Nations aspirations for a piece of the forest resource can be addressed.

"We had a discussion about establishing a process around which certain issues can be discussed," he said.

"It is frustrating for First Nations. It is frustrating for me. What I am hoping we can do is establish some kind of protocol that will remove that frustration."