Miles Morrisseau
ICT
Canada’s ousted National Chief RoseAnne Archibald lost a bid Tuesday to win reinstatement at the Assembly of First Nations, leaving in place an interim chief appointed Monday to replace her until an election can be held in December.
The interim chief, Joanna Bernard, Madawaska Maliseet First Nation, was named Monday by the assembly’s executive committee to become only the second woman to assume the post of national chief for the organization that is the national representative for First Nations in Canada.
SUPPORT INDIGENOUS JOURNALISM. CONTRIBUTE TODAY.
Archibald, who became the first woman to head the organization in its 50-plus years, called her ouster a “coup.” She previously served as Ontario regional chief and was elected chief of Taykwa Tagamou Nation in 1990.
“Normally the transition of power between national chiefs is a peaceful one; however, the manner in which Joanna Bernard was appointed by her fellow regional chiefs to the interim position is marred by conflict of interest and a laterally violent political coup against me as the first duly elected female national chief,” Archibald said in a statement released late Monday after Bernard was named.
“To top off the great injustice of this situation, the regional chiefs are attempting to deflect from the misogyny of the situation by, predictably, appointing a woman interim.”
As the Assembly of First Nations members arrived on the East Coast of Canada for the general assembly meeting held Tuesday, Archibald waited on the West Coast to face her future once again over Zoom. But the resolution to reconsider her ouster did not gain traction before the assembly.
With the association meeting on unceded Mi’Kmaq territory in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for its annual assembly, Chairman Adam Fiddler refused to allow any resolution to come to the floor to allow the assembly to reinstate Archibald.
Fiddler responded to a number of requests with interpretations of rules and points of order that squelched and silenced the requests – all of which disallowed the chiefs and proxies at the assembly to make a public decision.
In addition to naming Bernard as interim national chief on Monday, the AFN executive committee released audited statements along with its annual reports for the last 10 years. The meeting comes on the heels of the appointment of Archibald opponent Paul Prosper to the Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on July 6. Prosper is the AFN Nova Scotia regional chief.
“The AFN has always prioritized financial integrity and accountability,” Bernard said Monday after her appointment. “We want to assure First Nations-in-Assembly that the audited financial statements for the past 10 years are readily accessible on the AFN website.
“These statements have undergone extensive review, and we can confirm the absence of any financial concerns,” Bernard said, adding, “We welcome this request for transparency and remain steadfast in our commitment to serving our communities while upholding the highest accountability standards.”
Reinstatement efforts thwarted
The Assembly of First Nations voted to oust Archibald via Zoom on June 28 after more than a year of tensions and controversy that had already led to her being temporarily suspended once before.
The chiefs indicated the vote, which was overwhelmingly in favor of her ouster, was in response to an investigation that found Archibald had violated the AFN’s whistleblower policy and code of conduct after an investigation into five allegations of harassment and retaliation.
Supporters have said she was targeted because she is a woman.
Related stories:
—Canada’s first female national chief ousted over Zoom
—Canada’s national chief wins vote to overturn suspension
—Historic day for Indigenous peoples
—Indigenous leaders from Canada will attend Queen’s funeral
—Pope takes first step toward apology
With the assembly headed into its annual meeting on Tuesday, July 11, efforts had been mounting to again have her reinstated.
Archibald went live on Facebook on July 6 to encourage chiefs and their proxies to get to Halifax or register online and have the chiefs vote to reinstate her. Several chiefs and proxies brought the issue to the floor Tuesday.
“I would like to request to have the resolution to support and reinstate Roseanne, National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, be added to the chiefs’ agenda,” raised Chief Elizabeth Kataquapit, Albany First Nation, Ontario. “This resolution was different and not presented at that in-camera chiefs meeting held on June 28. And even though the mover and the seconder, that they weren’t consulted when this was done. So I believe that was improper to do that.”
In accordance with the assembly’s rules of order, however, the chair said the only way that a resolution could be added to the agenda is if the two people who moved to approve the agenda agreed to rescind their motion.
In each instance the original mover refused to rescind the original motion. It was an extended period of discussion around the rules of order that govern the assembly.
Cherish Clark, proxy for the Taku River Tlingit Nation, said she was sent by her all-female council to ask for Archibald to be reinstated, stating that the details around her removal are unclear.
“I don’t know the details of the [Human Resources] report, but I was told that it is incomplete and that people were forced to make a decision with very little information,” Clark stated online. “I wish that we had more of an opportunity to uphold the first female national AFN chief with more respect. Politics is often a man’s world and far from a matriarchal way of being … I’ve always supported women in politics and I’ve supported women when they choose to step forward into a leadership role.”
Chief Wilfred King of the Kiashke Zaaging First Nation would not support the resolution to consider reinstatement.
“I will not be supporting the resolution to include the reinstatement of RoseAnne Archibald as national chief,” King said. “The chiefs and assembly had met on the 28th of June, and that matter was discussed, that matter was resolved. I know that there are people that are saying that I didn’t attend the meeting. Well, everybody had an opportunity to attend that meeting. Everybody had a right to cast their vote.”
The agenda was moved forward without any resolutions added to consider Archibald’s situation. The former national chief stated in her video on July 6 that she would accept whatever decision was made but encouraged people to take a hard look at the organization.
“Don’t be fooled by the distractions,” Archibald said on the video. “The HR investigation and the way the HR investigation is being handled is a distraction from what’s really going on. And so there are things happening beneath the surface. And I want you to understand how to connect the dots, and to understand, again, this HR investigation, it’s a cover up for what’s really happening in the AFN … AFN started out as a grassroots organization. And now there’s concerns of government meddling. In addition to a forensic audit, we need an investigation into potential government interference at AFN.”
Archibald also questioned Prosper’s appointment by Trudeau.
“Regional Chief Prosper, now a senator appointed by the federal government, is the spokesperson for other regional chiefs at this moment regarding their coup against me,” she said in the video. “And, you know, that appointment to the Senate – the news might have come out today, but the application process is long.
“There are no coincidences,” she said. “There’s a lot of things happening behind the scenes that people just aren’t aware of. And that’s why I wanted to do this live video.”
Prosper was one of the leading voices against Archibald, including the initial attempt to remove the former national chief before last year’s general assembly.
The Canadian Senate has long been considered one of the premium patronage appointments in the federal government. The so-called “chamber of sober second thought” is largely symbolic with no legislative authority but boasts an annual salary of nearly $170,000 – second only to the Prime Minister – until the age of 75 with a full pension after that.
Looking ahead
Despite demands by Archibald for a forensic audit and the public acrimony and internal conflict that has gripped the AFN last year, it turned into a good year on the books, with the embattled organization’s revenues jumping more than $13.5 million in Canadian dollars.
According to the numbers posted online in the 2022-2023-Annual-Report.pdf (bynder.com) the day before the assembly, the AFN’s budget jumped to $52.6 million from $39.2 million.
Salaries and benefits increased by nearly $3 million and travel by nearly $9 million.
Professional services dropped by nearly $5 million to $10.8 million, but regional service delivery increased by more than $6 million to nearly $9.5 million.
The majority of the AFN’s $52.6 million budget comes from the federal government’s Indigenous Services Canada department, which increased its contribution to nearly $40 million from $31.6 million last year.
One interesting line item in the budget, considering the accusations of misogyny that have been raised around the treatment of the first female national chief, is a contribution of nearly $2 million from the newly created Women and Gender Equality Canada.
The rest of the budget is made up of contributions of under $1 million from different federal departments, minor foundation contributions and revenues from meeting and events.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, Archibald posted to a newly created Twitter account that she had been blocked from participating as a proxy.
“Due to #truth telling,” she posted, “I have been blocked from participating as a proxy, in the AFN AGA. #AFNForensicAuditNow.”
An hour later, she tweeted that she was taking a brief break from social media.
“I will post another live video in the near future,” she tweeted. “Until then, ninanaskamon for your support and encouragement. Kisahkeetin.”
Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT’s free newsletter.