Workplace probe finds AFN employees faced harassment, reprisals from national chief
CBC
A workplace investigation at the country's most influential First Nations organization concluded employees faced harassment and reprisals at the hands of its national leader.
The investigation found two Assembly of First Nations (AFN) employees were harassed by National Chief RoseAnne Archibald.
The investigation, launched in June 14, 2022, also found that five employees experienced reprisals and had their confidentiality breached by Archibald, according to a summary report of the investigation obtained by CBC News.
The report described the AFN's workplace environment as "highly politicized, divided and even fractured."
Archibald received individual reports on the allegations made by each of the five complainants last April. Her office told CBC News she has not received a copy of the summary report.
"The latest action yet again demonstrates that the HR investigation is being conducted in a colonial and confrontational manner and has been from the beginning," Archibald said in a statement provided to CBC News.
"Once the full HR reports are rightfully shared with the First Nations-in-Assembly, they will agree that I have been substantively exonerated as National Chief."
The AFN's executive committee did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News.
The AFN's legal counsel hired an outside legal firm to probe complaints against Archibald made by four employees, who were later joined by a fifth complainant. Employment lawyer Raquel Chisholm, a partner with Ottawa law firm Emond Harnden, oversaw the probe.
CBC News has confirmed that the first four complainants were hired as senior staff by Archibald to work in her office. The fifth complainant was the AFN's then-CEO, who left the organization in early 2023. Four of the five complainants are women.
"There is no question that [Archibald] breached the confidentiality provisions," the investigators wrote.
"By making statements that question the motives, intentions and integrity of the staff members that have made complaints … [Archibald's] conduct amounts to reprisal."
The summary report was distributed to First Nations chiefs across the country on May 18 ahead of a planned June 28 virtual AFN meeting to decide Archibald's future.
Last June, regional chiefs suspended Archibald after the initial complaints were lodged against her.
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