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Ousted AFN head seeks feedback on attending annual meeting

Former Assembly of First Nations national chief spoke to the public during a Facebook live video Thursday night, saying she does not know if she will attend next weeks annual general assembly in person.

RoseAnne Archibald will be sending a memo to chiefs represented by the AFN

Jackie McKay · CBC News ·
RoseAnne Archibald attends one of her last public events as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations to commemorate National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, 2023.
RoseAnne Archibald has not spoken to the media since she was removed as regional chief of AFN on June 28, but posted two videos to her Facebook page speaking to her supporters this week. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The ousted national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) said Thursday she is undecided if she will attend the organization's annual general assembly next week in Halifax.

"I haven't made a final decision, I'm leaving it open," RoseAnne Archibald said during a Facebook Live. 

Archibald said she will be sending the more than 600 chiefs represented by the AFN a memo asking for their feedback. 

"I will wait for the direction from the chiefs," on whether to attend, said Archibald. 

Archibald asked her supporters to register to participate in the meeting. 

"I believe we need to get mobilized," she said. 

Archibald holds her phone and speaks into it in the front seat of her car with a forest behind her.
Archibald sits in her car during the Facebook Live Thursday in North Vancouver. (CBC)

Archibald has not spoken to the media since she was removed by a non-confidence motion during an AFN virtual assembly on June 28. But this was the second video she recorded in her car in North Vancouver and posted to her Facebook page this week. 

Nearly 500 people watched the Facebook Live on Thursday.  

Archibald repeated her calls for a forensic audit of the AFN, saying the organization is "corrupt" and that its regional chiefs "ganged up" on her for her removal. 

"There is a great injustice and a great deal of unfairness, and a great deal of lateral violence of what happened to me," said Archibald. 

That meeting was called to address the finding of an investigation into five workplace misconduct complaints filed against Archibald last year, which found she harassed two staffers and retaliated against all five.

In Thursday's video, Archibald called the investigation a "distraction" for "what is really going on at the AFN." 

She has called on her supporters to tell their respective regional chiefs and councils to reinstate her as national chief and to call for a forensic audit of the AFN.

"I don't want to be reinstated because of my ego. I want to be reinstated because I have a sacred responsibility that I have to fulfil," she said in the video posted Monday. 

Archibald address delegates wearing her AFN headdress.
Archibald spoke to nearly 500 people on the Facebook Live video saying she was "ganged up" on by the AFN regional chiefs to be removed from her position. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

AFN is the largest Indigenous advocacy organization in Canada, representing more than 600 First Nation communities. 

Archibald became its first female national chief after winning a two-day, five-ballot election in 2021. 

She is now the first national chief to be voted out of the office mid-term.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jackie McKay

Reporter

Jackie McKay is a Métis journalist working for CBC Indigenous covering B.C. She was a reporter for CBC North for more than five years spending the majority of her time in Nunavut. McKay has also worked in Whitehorse, Thunder Bay, and Yellowknife.

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