The Assembly of First Nations will undergo a review of its financial policies and practices with National Chief RoseAnne Archibald leading the organization after Thursday’s vote.
More than 140 officers and trustees approved the resolution at the AFN’s annual general meeting in Vancouver. The text was revised several times over three days, sparking a fierce debate among delegates.
The review will examine how contracts are awarded within the organization, as well as conflict of interest concerns, and make recommendations on strengthening transparency and accountability.
Archibald applauded when the resolution passed with 75 percent of the vote.
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“I am so relieved that the truth has come out, that it is honored, that it is heard, and that is more important to me than any personal feelings I may have about the situation,” Archibald said.
“I think this situation played out in the perfect way that it was supposed to and we will see positive changes as a result.”
Archibald made the comments in an interview Wednesday after a resolution to cast a vote of no confidence in his leadership was withdrawn.
Earlier this month, AFN’s executive committee and national board of directors illegally suspended Archibald, blocking his phone and access to his email while a human resources investigation into four workplace harassment claims against him was carried out.
Archibald claims that upset employees had demanded more than $1 million in payments, which she refused to provide. Prior to her suspension, she publicly alleged that corruption is widespread within the AFN, describing various “financial irregularities,” “backroom deals” and efforts to silence disclosure of her.
According to a briefing note from lawyers to the executive committee, he also released confidential information about AFN’s contractors, and the value of various contracts, last month.
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Thursday’s resolution directs the AFN Charter Reform Chiefs Committee to hire an independent third party and, if necessary, order a forensic audit of the past decade of the organization’s financial activity, with particular attention to staff salaries, payments and contracts.
It would also include a digital investigation into alleged communication violations.
The Charter Renewal Chiefs Committee will return to the assembly First Nations with a report by the end of FY2022.
In the meantime, the resolution directs the executive and Archibald to begin a process of healing and reconciliation guided by First Nations customs and informed by AFN councils.
Both the national head and the executive will participate, in good faith, in the independent investigation of the workplace allegations made against them, and have been instructed not to speak to the media until the process is complete and shared with the Heads in Assembly. .
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The resolution identified a “problem” within the AFN that has caused “serious reputational damage” to the organization. However, in his remarks on Wednesday, Archibald said he believes the past month has created an “opportunity for change.”
“We have a series of resolutions that we presented to the chiefs before the controversy, so we will follow through on them and do the work that we always intended to do,” he told Global News.
“We really need to work on healing and repairing those relationships within the AFN executive, and we’re going to look to our elders and knowledge keepers to help us do that.”
The Charter Renewal Chiefs Committee has been directed to identify resources to fully implement a previous AFN resolution to become a role model for ending discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, while an independent investigation about a climate of “toxicity, intimidation and lateral violence” within the AFN takes place.
Meanwhile, Chief Vernon Saddleback of the Samson Cree Nation in Alberta asked Archibald to apologize for the women harmed when he released the contractor’s information in June.
“Two of my band members were on that list and they were women,” he told the assembly crowd Thursday. “They did nothing but honest work for AFN.”
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Fifty bosses and proxies voted against Thursday’s resolution and 18 abstained.
After the vote, Chief Brent Bissaillion of the Serpent River First Nation in northern Ontario stood at the microphone to express his “profound dissatisfaction” with the amount of fighting that has occurred in the last three days.
“Our youth have called this assembly to inaction, and the last few days have been steeped in drama and ego,” he told the crowd. “To my community and other communities, I want to apologize for this assembly. Our elders, our youth and the next generation, we have failed. We must do better and we can do better.”
Bisaillion and the Serpent River team suspended their participation in Thursday’s assembly to return home to where they are needed, and discuss their goals and way forward.
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