Fate of Assembly of First Nations financial inquiry uncertain following former national chief’s impeachment
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) faces tough questions as it heads to its annual general meeting next week in Halifax — and chief among them is whether the group will proceed with the forensic audit demanded by the now-former national chief.
Before she was impeached last week, RoseAnne Archibald claimed the AFN has spent an estimated $2 million since early 2021 on lawyers and investigations to oust her, according to documents and a recording obtained by CBC News.
All documents and recordings leaked to CBC News have been independently verified by multiple sources.
Meanwhile, the forensic audit she sought hasn’t progressed since July 2022 in Vancouver, when AFN member chiefs endorsed both the financial review and a workplace investigation into Archibald’s conduct.
“We haven’t really been able to make any progress on it,” Khelsilem, president of BC’s Squamish Nation Council, said Wednesday.
“We didn’t get any funding for it in any way. It was quite a challenge in that regard.”
Khelsilem chairs the AFN Chiefs Committee on Charter Renewal, a volunteer-based group that conducts the forensic audit. He introduced a draft resolution, scheduled for debate in Halifax, asking the chiefs for their full support.
The AFN, a government-funded First Nations advocacy organization, represents 634 leaders across the country. The organization received $39.2 million in federal cash in 2021-2022, its financial statements show.
Archibald was impeached on June 28 in a virtual meeting attended by 231 delegates — less than half of those eligible. 163 people voted to pass a motion of no confidence, with 62 voting against and six abstentions. CBC News was given access to the virtual meeting.
Archibald did not contest the outcome, instead urging supporters to demand her reinstatement in a video on Monday, calling the investigation a distraction from her campaign to clean up alleged corruption.
Money for some probes and not others: Archibald
During a heated AFN executive committee meeting on June 14, Archibald asked her regional leaders why there seemed to be enough money for some probes but not others.
Archibald accuses the AFN of reaching deep into its treasury to secure her overthrow, while refusing to approve contracts for her lawyer and obstructing complaints against regional leaders.
“I don’t know if you realize how much you spent attacking me as the national chief, and there’s something wrong with that,” said Archibald, who is Cree from Taykwa Tagamou Nation in northern Ontario.
“If you get $2 million at your disposal, but I get $0, that’s a huge injustice, and that’s what the chiefs need to know.”
CBC News was unable to independently confirm Archibald’s $2 million claim. She was the subject of an earlier investigation in 2021, a preliminary investigation before that and the second investigation in 2022, for which the AFN hired at least three different law firms.
In a video posted to Facebook Monday, RoseAnne Archibald said Assembly of First Nations leaders “disregarded our holy ways” on June 28 when they voted to depose her as national leader. Archibald appealed to her supporters to contact their respective leaders and councils to request her reinstatement as national head and advocate for a forensic audit she had previously requested in the AFN finances under her predecessors.
Archibald wanted to put on the agenda four points that she thought told the whole story:
- Four unresolved human resources complaints by the National Chief’s office staff.
- Three unresolved code of conduct complaints against regional leaders.
- Alleged refusal of legal consultant contracts for the national chief.
- The failure of the group to restore harmony in working relationships.
But regional leaders opposed it. On the recording, Joanna Bernard, New Brunswick regional chief, though questioning the accuracy of the amount, suggests that the costs of the AFN could “be much higher than that $2 million” if the complaints against Archibald are not addressed .
Archibald has maintained that the investigations were in retaliation for her anti-corruption campaign, but the AFN has countered that the allegations of bullying and harassment were credible and serious.
CBC News requested an interview with a spokesperson for the AFN executive on Thursday, but no one was available.
Nova Scotia Regional Chief Paul (PJ) Prosper said he could not confirm Archibald’s estimate and raised questions about the forensic audit to the charter renewal committee.
Prosper, who often spoke on behalf of the executive during the dispute with Archibald, was appointed to the Senate by the Liberal government on Thursday.
Archibald’s impeachment will reduce the credibility of AFN: Diabo
Russ Diabo, a policy analyst from the Kanien’kehà:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawà:ke, south of Montreal, and former adviser to Archibald, said the AFN executive opposes the financial investigation.
“The executive had been putting that off since the Vancouver meeting,” Diabo said.
“They wouldn’t even approve funding to have an auditor look into that issue…to make an initial cut.”
Diabo first met Archibald in 1989, when she went on a hunger strike against the Mulroney government as a youth activist. More than three decades later, she pushed for reform with the same outspoken activist side — something Diabo liked about her before joining her team in 2022.
But his hiring has baffled some chiefs, given his outspoken criticism of the AFN in the past, while Archibald showed coolness to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by calling him a “performative reconciler” twice this year.
It was hard talk the AFN hadn’t seen in decades, and Diabo sees her overthrow as a victory for the liberal-friendly AFN faction.
“AFN had poor credibility among the common people, and I think this will only exacerbate that,” Diabo said.
“You’ll probably find that more and more band councils are also getting fed up with AFN falling in line with the liberals.”
Joe Alphonse, head of the government of Tl’etinqox-t’in and chairman of the national government of Tŝilhqot’in, is one of those people who are now disowning the AFN.
Alphonse supported a motion to endorse Archibald’s leadership, which was dropped after the vote of no confidence passed. Alphonse urged Archibald to hold on to her guns, file a lawsuit, and keep fighting.
“If you want to win the horse race, you have to determine if you have the horses to do it. If that means offending some people, then so be it,” he said.
“You have to bring your own people. You’re not going to win the war with someone else’s soldiers.’
