Former national chief says AFN lawsuit to move ahead, settlement talks 'stonewalled'

Former Assembly of First Nations national chief RoseAnne Archibald says her lawsuit against the national advocacy organization is moving forward, after settlement talks “were stalled and stonewalled” for 18 months.

Archibald is suing AFN for $5 million, alleging she was sidelined in a “campaign of retaliation” that culminated in her removal from office in 2023. She said this week her case is entering the discovery phase.

“With no meaningful progress, the matter is now proceeding through the courts, where truth, evidence, and accountability can finally be examined in full,” she said in a Dec. 2 social media post.

Her July 12, 2024, statement of claim names as defendants the AFN, its corporate arm, its executive committee and all the regional chiefs who were in office at the time. The case was filed in Toronto’s Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the allegations are unproven.

In a civil lawsuit, discovery is a pre-trial process used to uncover information. A copy of a draft discovery plan, written by Archibald's counsel and obtained by CBC Indigenous, proposes that a trove of records connected to the AFN’s recent internal turbulence be exchanged.

These would include documents and all correspondence, emails, texts and messages sent on any messenger app between Archibald, the defendants and certain AFN employees, as well as communications about Archibald between the defendants and several other individuals. 

"We've asked them for a lot of documents, mostly emails among members of the executive committee, between members of the executive committee and the secretariat," said Archibald’s lawyer David Shiller, of Shillers LLP in Toronto.

"And we believe that there's going to be very relevant and very damaging communications revealed in that."

The defendants filed a notice on Aug. 1, 2024, indicating they intend to defend the action.

Shiller said after that notice was filed, counsel for the AFN requested an extension to file a statement of defence, which was granted. He said AFN's counsel then suggested they try to resolve the case.

Archibald's side compiled material AFN had requested, made a settlement offer and followed up but got no response, Shiller said.

"They invited us to make an offer. We put the materials together, sent it to their counsel and we haven't heard back," he told CBC Indigenous.

"There were a number of follow-ups. We didn't hear back and so RoseAnne was left with no option but to push forward with the action, which we've now done."

Teri Liu of Dutton Brock LLP, listed as the defendants’ lawyer, didn’t respond to requests for comment. An AFN spokesperson declined to comment.