Global Courant 2023-05-20 00:52:10
A workplace investigation at the country’s most influential First Nations organization concluded that workers experienced harassment and retaliation from the national leader.
The investigation found that two Assembly of First Nations (AFN) employees were harassed by National Chief RoseAnne Archibald.
The investigation, which began June 14, 2022, also found that five employees suffered retaliation 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 work environment as “highly politicized, divided and even fractured”.
Archibald received individual reports on the allegations from each of the five complainants last April. Her office told CBC News that she has not received a copy of the summary report.
“The latest action again demonstrates that the HR investigation is conducted in a colonial and confrontational manner and has been from the beginning,” Archibald said in a statement to CBC News.
“Once the full HR reports are properly 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 law firm to investigate complaints against Archibald filed by four employees, who were later joined by a fifth complainant. Labor lawyer Raquel Chisholm, a partner of the Ottawa law firm of Emond Harnden, oversaw the investigation.
CBC News has confirmed that the first four complainants have been hired by Archibald as senior staff to work in her office. The fifth complainant was the then CEO of the AFN, who left the organization in early 2023. Four out of five complainants are women.
“There is no question that (Archibald) violated confidentiality provisions,” the researchers wrote.
“By making statements that question the motives, intentions and integrity of the employees who filed complaints… (Archibald’s) behavior amounts to retaliation.”
The Assembly of First Nations plans to hold a virtual meeting on June 28 to consider the summary report. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
The summary report was distributed to First Nations chiefs across the country on May 18, ahead of a scheduled June 28 virtual AFN meeting to decide Archibald’s future.
Last June, regional chiefs suspended Archibald after the first complaints against her were filed.
Her suspension was lifted and Archibald survived an attempt by other chiefs to have her removed from her job at last July’s annual general meeting in Vancouver. The majority of the heads of the assembly postponed the issue until after the external investigation was completed.
The leaders also passed a resolution at that same meeting in Vancouver responding to Archibald’s allegations of corruption within the AFN by creating a committee to review the organization’s financial practices.
The AFN director, made up of regional chiefs, unanimously passed a resolution in late April recommending that the chiefs-in-assembly remove Archibald as national chief at their next meeting after reviewing the detailed findings of the internal investigation into each of the complaints filed by the five employees. .
No evidence of conspiracy
The summary report circulated to the heads of the assembly does not include details of Archibald’s alleged harassment of two employees.
“Even if this incident is not seen as part of a pattern of behavior, our conclusion is that it is sufficiently serious or ‘serious’,” the report said.
However, the report details how Archibald violated AFN policy by violating the complainants’ confidentiality.
The investigators found that several of Archibald’s public statements shortly after the start of the external investigation violated the confidentiality of four employees and constituted retaliation against them.
The outside probe described the work environment at the Assembly of First Nations as “highly politicized, divided and even fractured.” (Ka’nhehsi:io Deer/CBC)
On June 16, 2022, Archibald released a public statement alleging that the internal investigation was “launched by the four members of staff trying to secure more than $1 million in contract payouts” and that it was a “desperate effort” to prevent Archibald “exposed misconduct”. within the AFN.”
The next day, Archibald released a second statement alleging that the four staff members conspired to enrich themselves.
The report found no evidence of collusion by either party.
“We conclude that by making statements that question the motives, intentions and integrity of the employees who filed complaints and by making that suggestion in such a public venue, (Archibald’s) conduct amounts to retaliation the researchers wrote.
“As head of the organization, we dare to say that she has an additional responsibility to respect and comply with her policies.”
Archibald told investigators she made the disclosures because she has a responsibility to be accountable and transparent to her constituents. She also insisted that she did not provide the names of members of staff and did not make misleading statements.
“There is nothing in the language of the code of conduct or oath of office to support an interpretation condoning breaches of the confidentiality policy by suggesting that her role justified these disclosures,” the report said.
‘Reputational damage’
The investigators found that Archibald’s retaliation and breaches of confidentiality against the fifth employee — previously identified by CBC News as Janice Ciavaglia, who was the CEO of the AFN when the complaint was filed — were “unique” in nature.
The investigators reported that Archibald made explicit public statements singling out Ciavaglia, while also distributing emails and memos referencing Ciavaglia and falsely accusing Ciavaglia of suing Archibald for libel.
These actions caused “reputational damage” against Ciavaglia, who shut down her social media accounts after receiving death threats, the report said.
The Executive Committee of the Assembly of First Nations unanimously passed a resolution to recommend that the heads of the assembly remove RoseAnne Archibald as national head at their next meeting. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
The detectives conducted more than 30 interviews, including interviews with the five complainants, Archibald and a number of witnesses.
Archibald released a statement in April claiming she was “justified” after receiving the detailed findings of the investigation.
That statement violated a directive from the AFN chiefs-in-assembly that instructed Archibald to refrain from public comment until the findings of the investigation were fed back to the First Nations leadership, the summary report said.
This is Archibald’s second time facing a workplace investigation.
While she was Ontario regional chief, Archibald faced a separate bullying and harassment investigation launched by ten complainants.
The 2021 investigation came to a dead end because none of the complainants would come forward publicly to file formal complaints, fearing retaliation in the workplace.
