RoseAnne Archibald has been removed as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). During a private virtual meeting on June 29, 168 of the 232 chiefs in attendance voted to remove her. The motion arose from an internal investigation that found Archibald had harassed and retaliated against AFN staff members. Since the vote, Archibald has asked supporters to call for her reinstatement, stating the chiefs who voted for her removal “ignored our sacred ways” in a video posted to her Facebook.
Archibald also reiterated her calls to address corruption within the AFN since October 2020.
“Don’t be fooled by the HR investigations,” Archibald said. “They are a distraction from what is really happening and that is problems at the AFN that must be cleaned up and fixed.”
In a press release, the AFN explained the decision came as a result of Archibald’s violation of “Whistleblower Policy and breach of the Executive Committee’s Code of Conduct.” The AFN also announced an election to select an interim National chief from the Executive Committee will take place in December 2023.
“We extend our best wishes to RoseAnne Archibald in her future endeavors,” the statement reads.
Harassment investigation and political turmoil
The tenure of Archibald as National Chief has been difficult since her 2021 election win. She was the first woman elected to the position of National Chief, who enjoyed the support of other women in the organization at the time of her election.
The vote was not the first attempt at removing her as National Chief. When the initial complaints were filed in 2022, the executive committee and national board of directors suspended Archibald, as AFN National Chief, a move which Archibald said they did not have the authority to impose. She was then blocked from phone and email access as the human resources investigation began.The executive committee prohibited Archibald from attending the AFN’s Annual General Assembly (AGA), but changed their position on June 30, allowing her to make a statement to delegates.
At the time, Archibald said in an interview with CTV reporter Evan Solomon that she had documented proof of corruption, but could not reveal it due to a conflict between corporate bylaws and her oath to inform chiefs of potential dangers.
During the July 2022 AGA, Archibald claimed the suspension was an example of “lateral violence” and continued to call for internal reform. The AGA voted to lift Archibald’s suspension, with a statement that said she should stop behaviour that “breaches the confidentiality and privacy interests of AFN employees.” The next day, an emergency resolution to remove Archibald was withdrawn without a vote.
On the last day of the assembly, 75 per cent of delegates voted for an emergency draft resolution which called for a review of the AFN’s finances. This was a move aligned with policies Archibald had called for before the 2022 AGA was held.
Russ Diabo, a member of the Mohawk Nation, Indigenous activist and candidate for National Chief during the 2018 AFN elections, said that this resolution has since been needlessly delayed.
“The AFN Executive stalled on approving the terms of reference or even funding an audit process,” Diabo said. “It’s only now that two of the members, the chair and a member of the Chiefs Committee on Charter Renewal, are bringing a resolution forward at the Halifax meeting to get terms of reference approved for the committee.”
Investigation concludes
The next development came in May of this year, when the internal investigation found Archibald had harassed two senior AFN staff members and retaliated against five others.
The cases of retaliation concern Archibald’s public statements on the complainants. She claimed the investigation was a “desperate attempt” to stop her from revealing corruption, and that the four staff members “tried to secure over a million dollars in contract payouts.” Archibald also claimed the complainants had colluded in pursuit of money.
The report found no evidence of collusion, and Archibald’s public statements “amounts to reprisal.” Archibald told investigators these statements were intended to communicate transparency to her constituents, and they had not been misleading.
Pam Palmater, professor and Chair in Indigenous Governance at Toronto Metropolitan University, said on an APTN panel that workplace issues are meant to be dealt with in the administrative round, not the political.
“This isn’t about whether or not some workplace policy was violated, there would have been progressive discipline,” Palmater said. “This is something much deeper.”
Archibald told the CBC that the HR investigation had operated under a “colonial and confrontational manner” since it began. On May 29, Archibald issued a memo to chiefs explaining her side of the investigation’s conclusions, stating that the full human resources report would exonerate her.
According to Diabo, the full version of the report was not made available to chiefs before the June 28 vote.
As a result of this report, a virtual meeting on June 28 held a vote to decide the future of Archibald as National Chief. Diabo called the virtual meeting “unprecedented,” since the annual general meeting is planned for July 11-13 in Halifax. He also strongly condemned Archibald’s removal.
“This is the first time that’s happened and the way they did it in a virtual meeting with just chiefs and proxies with no observers, no witnesses,” Diabo said. “I think it amounts to a virtual lynching.”
“They’ve released edited summaries.” Diabo said. “So personally, with a politicized executive like that, I’m skeptical on whether there was foundation for the complaints.”
Diabo also echoed Archibald’s statements on colonialism, that the AFN was a result of the Indian Act and that it was a “colonial body.” as a result. He also said that Archibald had called for a renegotiation of the AFN’s relationship to the Trudeau government, which supplies millions of dollars in funds to the AFN.
Diabo said that an aspect of the controversies which has gone under the radar has been Archibald’s calls to renegotiate with the federal government through a permanent bilateral mechanisms system, signed in 2017 under then National chief Perry Bellegarde. He said a large amount of funds were transferred from the federal government to the AFN under that relationship. In his view, the regional chiefs “tried to ignore it.”
“The audit, the funding, the tens of millions that went into AFN during the Bellegarde years are tied into a cozy relationship with the Trudeau government, the cooperation and the legislation that passed,” he said.
Where to go from here
Archibald has repeatedly stressed the gender dynamics at play in the vote to remove her. In her Facebook video, she characterized the vote as “one of the most violent acts against an Indigenous, First Nation woman leader.” Diabo agrees, and predicts the regional chiefs will support a woman candidate in the upcoming election, in order to address these concerns.
In the APTN panel, Palmater said that she believes that it was not a legal removal, and that Archibald is still National Chief. She later added that the solution was for chiefs to take charge in the national assembly.
“This could literally be the death knell where they don’t represent anyone anymore,” Palmater said of the decision to remove Archibald. “The regional chiefs have not done their job here.”
Diabo said he’s unsure of where the AFN will proceed, as the only way to reinstate Archibald as National Chief would be for the Executive Committee to introduce an emergency resolution.
“Otherwise if there’s no resolution to overturn the resolution from June 28, they’re going to proceed to an election in December of this year,” he said.
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