Now, a year after her first term, what was seen as an opportunity to usher in a new era in the female-led First Nations (AFN) Assembly has turned into a riot in the workplace, according to sources who spoke to CBC News. Archibald is facing an outside investigation sparked by allegations of intimidation and harassment by four senior executives he hired to move to Ottawa and run the office of its national leader. Three of the four complainants are women, according to CBC News. The current chief of staff of Archibald has filed her own complaint against the four executives, as well as senior AFN officials, according to CBC News. Internal tensions within Archibald’s office have now plunged AFN, a national organization supporting the 634 First Nations, into an unprecedented crisis. Archibald is facing a majority of regional leaders, who suspended her after making public statements accusing the four staff members of asking for more than $ 1 million in severance pay. The national leader is also facing an expected vote of no confidence at next week’s annual general meeting in Vancouver, which could force her to resign – something that has never happened in the organization’s history. Archibald was barred from attending the Vancouver convention, but the AFN reversed that decision, according to an AFN statement sent late Thursday. CBC News examined several documents related to the complaints and interviewed seven sources with direct knowledge of AFN’s internal operations. Records and interviews provide the most detailed picture to date of the alleged malfunction in the national leader’s office. The Prince of Wales speaks with National Assembly Speaker RoseAnne Archibald at a reception hosted by the Governor-General in Ottawa on May 18. (Ian Vogler / AP) The allegations allege that Archibald required staff to participate in “daily rituals of semi-religious, psychological therapy and psychoanalysis” and recruited them into programs against other AFN employees, claiming that they were facing “dark forces” seeking to “undermine the ». CBC News spoke to the seven sources in confidence because they feared retaliation in the workplace if they were named.
The “ultimatum”
The events came to the fore in early May, when Archibald handed over what a complaint called an “ultimatum” to her senior staff: to compromise on her plan to disband part of the organization or leave. The seven sources also said that Archibald focused on targeting AFN staff who considered themselves loyal to its predecessor, former leader Perry Belegard. Archibald showed “paranoia” to CEO Janice Ciavaglia, according to complaint files. Ciavaglia was hired by the executive committee during Bellegarde’s last term to oversee the non-political branch of the AFN, known as the secretariat, which has more than 170 staff focused on policy work. “She [Archibald] he stated that “they are coming to take her and there are ‘dark forces’ working inside the secretariat, so she has to ‘take down the whole secretariat’”, reads a complaint. “He said the CEO was behind it, the governors and all the secretariat staff,” the document said. Seven sources who spoke to CBC News said that Archibald focused on targeting the staff of the First Nations Assembly that he considered loyal to its predecessor, the former leader of the country Perry Belegard. (Adrian Wyld / Canadian Press) Archibald denied an interview with CBC News on Thursday to respond to allegations that have not been substantiated. Aaron Detlor’s lawyer described the allegations as “inappropriate and inaccurate”. CBC News also contacted Ciavaglia, who did not comment.
Complaint accuses national leader of causing “once buried injuries”
Interviews and complaint files reviewed by CBC News also reveal new details about Archibald’s management style. In one case, during an April trip to New York for meetings with the United Nations, Archibald singled out a staff member and pressured him to reveal the most traumatic thing that happened in their childhood, according to a complaint. The staff member eventually retreated but “felt ashamed and ridiculed” after the incident that “once caused burial injuries”, the complaint said. When asked about the complaint by CBC News, Detlor described it as “simply false” and “inaccurate”. “It is being promoted, as part of a broader agenda, to undermine the national leader,” he said. Prime Minister Justin Trinto puts out a fire in a ritual fire with Williams Lake First Nation leader Willie Sellars, right, First National Assembly Speaker RoseAnne Archibald, left, and former Crown Minister Marc Miller areas of St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, Williams Lake, BC, March 30. (Darryl Dyck / Canadian Press) Before the controversy erupted, sources said Archibald was planning a mandatory two-day leave for its staff in late May as part of decolonization training, according to a complaint. Archibald was planning to hire her own “sound therapist” to lead the shelter, according to the document. “The information was about personal issues / traumas that could not be discussed openly with ‘strangers’ and should be a personal choice,” the document said. “We were also told that we were ‘damaged’ and needed this training to heal.”
The fall
Sources said that the problems started to escalate in the office of the national leader after Archibald asked her senior staff to help dismantle the secretariat. This was a significant departure, sources said, from her campaign promise to establish “healthy boundaries” between AFN’s political and administrative bodies, which she achieved in Ontario’s leadership as regional governor. In an interview with APTN News on June 24, Archibald said that about 200 secretariat staff would retain their jobs if the body was disbanded. However, AFN sources said that Archibald did not present his plan to the four senior executives, who are now on paid leave pending the results of the external investigation. Assembly of First Nations Speaker Roseanne Archibald, front left, helps Arlene Haldein distribute Christmas bars containing turkey and other food to members of the First Musqueam Nation in Vancouver Dy.21 (December 20) Press On May 6, AFN sources reported, Archibald met with her staff, warning them that their jobs could be jeopardized by the possibility of a vote of no confidence against her. He encouraged them to consider their options and promised them a report, according to sources. In a May 12 email to CBC News, the four executives asked Archibald to confirm that it was “open to negotiating a fair package of layoffs,” including full payment of the remaining two years of their contracts. Archibald responded by saying their request should be forwarded to the CEO to assist her current chief of staff and asked when their last day would be, according to an email seen on CBC News. The national leader does not have the power to approve or reject proposed dismissal packages, according to AFN policy. This responsibility rests with the CEO, who must follow the Canadian Labor Code. However, Archibald told CTV News and APTN News that she refused to approve such a withdrawal package. “I felt it was immoral,” Archibald said in an interview with APTN on June 24. “Our first nations need clean drinking water. They need good housing. They need me as a national leader to have a healthy office workplace with the right number of staff so I can start tackling these issues,” he told CTV on the 23rd. June. . Shackan Indian band leader Arnie Lampreau, left, and First National Assembly leader RoseAnne Archibald talk as they stop to look at the damage caused by last summer’s fires and November floods west of Merr. , on March 24. (Darryl Dyck / Canadian Press) A formal request for severance pay was not sent by the complainants, according to sources. They also said that any money for dismissal packages from the national leader’s top staff would come from her office budget, not money intended for the communities. Before Archibald made his allegations public, the four senior executives contacted Archibald after receiving an email response stating that they had not resigned, sources said. The four top executives filed complaints against Archibald shortly afterwards through AFN’s policy on the complainants because sources said they feared retaliation. AFN has introduced a whistleblower policy following a previous investigation into allegations of intimidation and harassment against Archibald since she was Ontario’s regional leader, to allow AFN staff to make confidential complaints. (A separate investigation was conducted into these allegations last year, but none of the complainants wanted to appear in public to file formal complaints, so the investigation was closed.)
Archibald counterattack
On Wednesday, just days before the Vancouver convention, Archibald countered by sharing a 15-page complaint by its current chief executive, Joyce Hunter, against four senior executives, Ciavaglia’s chief executive officer and chief executive officer. In a complaint filed June 29, Hunter wrote that she did not see or experience any form of bullying, intimidation or harassment by Archibald. He accused one of the four officials who allegedly shouted at a staff meeting on December 7, 2021, because he said they were unhappy with the content the team had prepared for Archibald’s closing remarks at the special assembly of leaders. “After that we ended up being afraid of them,” said Archibald. I’m grateful that my family & Taykwa Tagamou community stands by …
