Former National Chief Files $5 Million Lawsuit Against Assembly of First Nations

The former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is suing the advocacy organization for $5 million following her dramatic ouster.

RoseAnne Archibald, the first woman to lead the AFN, is seeking damages from her former workplace for defamation of character, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence.

She names the AFN, its executive committee, and all the regional chiefs who sat on that committee during her tenure as respondents.

The allegations are detailed in a notice of motion filed with the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. They have not been proven in court.

This lawsuit comes one year after Archibald was removed from her position by AFN chiefs during a special virtual meeting. Her removal followed two external investigations that concluded she had harassed AFN staff. One investigation occurred while she was national chief, and the other during her previous role as Ontario regional chief.

Archibald denied the findings, dismissing the accusations as the result of internal resistance to her anti-corruption efforts.

She is the first national chief ever to be ejected by the assembly.

Her legal action is the latest development in a prolonged conflict that has plunged the AFN into turmoil and raised questions about the organization’s effectiveness in representing and advocating for more than 900,000 people across 634 First Nations in Canada.

Archibald for comment through her lawyer but received no response. The AFN declined to comment.

Archibald alleges that after her election in July 2021, the executive committee resisted her platform, which promised increased financial transparency and accountability.

In her court filing, Archibald claims that AFN executive members began a campaign to sideline and eventually remove her. She asserts that they took several illegal actions, such as denying her AFN insurance coverage for civil proceedings against her and refusing to allow her to retain legal counsel with AFN funds to defend herself against actions by regional chiefs.

The AFN’s executive committee initially suspended Archibald in June 2021 after allegations of harassment and bullying surfaced during her tenure as national chief. However, the chiefs reversed the suspension during an annual general meeting in Vancouver the following month and urged both sides to work together.

Archibald is seeking compensation for legal fees incurred due to her suspension, the human resources investigation against her, the campaign to oust her, and two separate legal proceedings initiated by other chiefs in response to comments she made about them.

No statement of defense has been filed yet.