Assembly of First Nations' new chief won't 'pull any punches'
Anja Karadeglija
RoseAnne Archibald, the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, is the first woman to be elected to the role — and looks likely to present a stronger voice advocating for First Nations issues with the federal government.
© Provided by National Post Incoming national head of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald,
Asked how her approach would differ from that of predecessor Perry Bellegarde, Archibald told reporters Friday she takes a dual perspective to dealing with governments.
“I look at the person who is in that position, and I see them as a human being. And I know many people watched as I created a positive relationship between a Conservative government and First Nations in Ontario. And that comes from a place of mutual respect.”
But that won’t stop her from holding governments to account. “You can ask the Ontario government about the many times we have been at loggerheads,” Archibald said.
As national chief, Archibald will lobby the federal government on behalf of more than 900,000 First Nations members. She won the AFN election Thursday evening after two days and five rounds of voting, beating out six other candidates.
Archibald received 205 votes on the fifth ballot, nearly 10 per cent shy of the 60 per cent majority required for a win. The votes are cast by chiefs or their proxies, not individual members of First Nations. She won the election after Muskowekwan First Nation chief Reginald Bellerose, who received 35.5 per cent of the vote, withdrew from the race before the sixth ballot.
“I think that RoseAnne is going to be a very strong national chief in terms of speaking out and advocating on behalf of First Nations across the country,” independent MP and former Liberal cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said.
“There is a definite need to press the federal government in a way that perhaps has not been reflected in the last number of years.”
Asked how her approach would differ from that of predecessor Perry Bellegarde, Archibald told reporters Friday she takes a dual perspective to dealing with governments.
“I look at the person who is in that position, and I see them as a human being. And I know many people watched as I created a positive relationship between a Conservative government and First Nations in Ontario. And that comes from a place of mutual respect.”
But that won’t stop her from holding governments to account. “You can ask the Ontario government about the many times we have been at loggerheads,” Archibald said.
As national chief, Archibald will lobby the federal government on behalf of more than 900,000 First Nations members. She won the AFN election Thursday evening after two days and five rounds of voting, beating out six other candidates.
Archibald received 205 votes on the fifth ballot, nearly 10 per cent shy of the 60 per cent majority required for a win. The votes are cast by chiefs or their proxies, not individual members of First Nations. She won the election after Muskowekwan First Nation chief Reginald Bellerose, who received 35.5 per cent of the vote, withdrew from the race before the sixth ballot.
“I think that RoseAnne is going to be a very strong national chief in terms of speaking out and advocating on behalf of First Nations across the country,” independent MP and former Liberal cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said.
“There is a definite need to press the federal government in a way that perhaps has not been reflected in the last number of years.”
Wilson-Raybould described Archibald as a strong advocate, someone who is outspoken, forthright and doesn’t pull any punches.
“I think she’ll come out of the gate in a gallop, which she needs to,” Wilson-Raybould added. “There’s a lot of challenges, both internally within the AFN organization and certainly an enormous amount of issues that she’s going to have to work on.”
Archibald, being the first woman to serve as AFN national chief, marks another first in a career of them. At 23, she became the first woman and youngest chief of Taykwa Tagamou Nation, and in 2018 was the first woman to be elected as Ontario regional chief.
Archibald said her election is a victory for all women, and it’s “absolutely essential that women and girls everywhere can see themselves represented at the Assembly of First Nations in a leadership role.”
But while her gender is important, it’s not the reason she was elected, she added.
“It is the 31 years of experience at every political level that has gotten me here. Women are worthy, women are capable, women are highly skilled.”
In addition to posts as deputy grand chief for Nishnawbe Aski Nation and grand chief for Mushkegowuk Council – she was also the first woman and youngest individual in both jobs – Archibald ran a consulting business for nine years.
Veldon Coburn, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies, described outgoing chief Bellegarde and his predecessor, Shawn Atleo, as “milquetoast” politicians, who “really didn’t have the sort of firebrand that we had hoped for.”
“And then you actually have someone who’s personally charismatic and exciting like RoseAnne Archibald, and who has a lot of integrity, too. So that’s a little bit different.”
While Bellegarde avoided conflict with the federal government, Archibald “will come out and be very blunt about things and actually present solutions as well to the problems, so I think that difference will be quite noticeable,” Coburn said.
She’s done that in her previous roles, Coburn said, adding that her experience on chiefs’ committees that study issues in-depth means she has a deep understanding of critical issues such as housing and water infrastructure.
Bellegarde and Atleo led the AFN after the Idle No More movement began in 2012, “which was probably the most explosive Indigenous movement in the last century … and really they allowed that momentum to fizzle.” Archibald, on the other hand, hasn’t shied away from criticizing organizations, including the AFN, Coburn noted.
Archibald herself has faced criticism in the form of bullying and harassment allegations. An independent report from May looking into those claims for the AFN said seven individuals didn’t file formal complaints because they feared workplace reprisals, according to the CBC. The report didn’t include details about the allegations.
Asked about the allegations Friday, Archibald said she couldn’t comment on a confidential report, but that the allegations were reprisals for her calling for an independent review of harassment and bullying of women and two-spirited, LGBTQQIA+ people at the AFN. She said she was in favour of implementing a whistleblower policy at the organization, and promised to make AFN a “safe, welcoming and healthy space.”
© The Canadian Press Former AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde at a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa in February 2020.
Coburn said it’s “very important” for the AFN to have strong leadership now, given the recent announcements that hundreds of unmarked graves had been discovered at the sites of three former residential schools. That includes the remains of 215 children at a former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C., up to 751 remains near a residential school at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, and 182 unmarked graves near Cranbrook, B.C.
More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend church-run residential schools funded by the government that operated from the 1880s until the 1990s. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found in its 2015 report children in residential schools died at far higher rates than children in the general population. It said the school system, which separated Indigenous children from their families with the aim of assimilating them and breaking their links to their culture and identity, was a central element of a government policy of “cultural genocide.”
“The recovery of our children at former residential schools is a priority. There must be truth before reconciliation,” she said. “I will support and advocate for resources for ongoing healing from intergenerational trauma from colonization, particularly residential schools.”
Archibald said her next step will be to review the goals she set out in her platform with leaders including national and regional chiefs, with more detailed work plans to come. She also plans to establish a post-pandemic recovery plan for First Nations, and will be coming out with a 100-day plan.
Archibald said other priorities will be pushing the government to put together an action plan to implement all 94 calls to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The implementation of the action plan put forward by the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is also a priority.
Systemic racism in the justice system and in the health care system, and the climate change crisis, are other priorities that need to addressed, she said.
Archibald promised to “uphold and defend and protect First Nations sovereignty and jurisdiction” through the implementation and recognition of treaty rights in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Bill C-15, which says the Canadian government must ensure its laws are consistent with UNDRIP, became law last month.
“The new national chief is going to, I suspect, work with our nations across the country to ensure that bill is not just something that the government can sit back and say ‘We’ve done what we need to do,’” Wilson-Raybould said.
It will be necessary to press the federal government “to change laws, change policies and change the practices of the federal government in order to create the space for Indigenous nations to rebuild. So I think she’s going to be a strong advocate on that.”
Coburn said it’s “very important” for the AFN to have strong leadership now, given the recent announcements that hundreds of unmarked graves had been discovered at the sites of three former residential schools. That includes the remains of 215 children at a former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C., up to 751 remains near a residential school at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, and 182 unmarked graves near Cranbrook, B.C.
More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend church-run residential schools funded by the government that operated from the 1880s until the 1990s. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found in its 2015 report children in residential schools died at far higher rates than children in the general population. It said the school system, which separated Indigenous children from their families with the aim of assimilating them and breaking their links to their culture and identity, was a central element of a government policy of “cultural genocide.”
“The recovery of our children at former residential schools is a priority. There must be truth before reconciliation,” she said. “I will support and advocate for resources for ongoing healing from intergenerational trauma from colonization, particularly residential schools.”
Archibald said her next step will be to review the goals she set out in her platform with leaders including national and regional chiefs, with more detailed work plans to come. She also plans to establish a post-pandemic recovery plan for First Nations, and will be coming out with a 100-day plan.
Archibald said other priorities will be pushing the government to put together an action plan to implement all 94 calls to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The implementation of the action plan put forward by the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is also a priority.
Systemic racism in the justice system and in the health care system, and the climate change crisis, are other priorities that need to addressed, she said.
Archibald promised to “uphold and defend and protect First Nations sovereignty and jurisdiction” through the implementation and recognition of treaty rights in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Bill C-15, which says the Canadian government must ensure its laws are consistent with UNDRIP, became law last month.
“The new national chief is going to, I suspect, work with our nations across the country to ensure that bill is not just something that the government can sit back and say ‘We’ve done what we need to do,’” Wilson-Raybould said.
It will be necessary to press the federal government “to change laws, change policies and change the practices of the federal government in order to create the space for Indigenous nations to rebuild. So I think she’s going to be a strong advocate on that.”
OTTAWA — In her home community of Taykwa Tagamou Nation in northeastern Ontario, surrounded by family and friends, RoseAnne Archibald was about to deliver the oath of office as newly elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations Thursday when she suddenly began to giggle.
The solemn ceremony, held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was interrupted by messages popping up on her smartphone, which was being used to broadcast her oath and victory speech across the country.
"I'm getting too many text messages from people, it's interfering with my oath of office," Archibald said as she laughed, handing her phone to an aide so she wouldn't have to hold it herself while delivering her remarks.
Archibald's authenticity in that moment reflects the kind of leader she says she wants to be as the first female leader of the AFN, an advocacy organization representing 634 First Nations.
She is pledging to hold governments' feet to the fire in making sure the needs and priorities of First Nations people in Canada are at the forefront of national dialogue and action.
But the new leader also harshly criticized the way the AFN has been run in the past, and is promising to make the organization more inclusive and transparent.
She also says she will approach this transformational work in her own kind and respectful way.
"I have the ability to create space that is respectful and kind to other leaders and at the same time, hold them to account. I'm holding two spaces within me," she said at a news conference Friday.
"I know that with that heart-centred approach, together with any government we can move the yardstick, we can create quantum leaps of change and that's my plan."
Archibald secured her electoral victory late Thursday after two days and five full rounds of voting. The race was about go to a sixth ballot before the last of Archibald's six rivals for the job, Reginald Bellerose, chief of Muskowekwan First Nation in Saskatchewan, conceded.
As the first woman to hold the job of national chief, Archibald says it has been a long and often bumpy road to get here.
The secretariat for the AFN, which oversees the business and operations of the organization, is still also called the 'National Indian Brotherhood,' she noted when asked why it's taken so long for a woman to assume leadership of the AFN.
"It's things like that create a feeling that there isn't a place for women," she said. The negative experiences of national female politicians such as Jody Wilson-Raybould and Catherine McKenna can also often discourage women from seeking higher office, she added.
"These attacks on women don't create safe spaces for women. But it's changing," she said. "It's important that 80 per cent of the chiefs across Canada are men and they elected me. And that, to me, speaks to the change that is happening: that our brothers understand the importance of creating space."
Over the next 100 days, Archibald plans to focus on key issues such as unmarked burial sites at former residential schools, the national action plan on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and fighting systemic racism in the health and justice systems.
She also plans to prioritize climate change's effects on Indigenous communities — such as the wildfires ravaging First Nations in British Columbia — and will work with governments and regional chiefs on a post-pandemic recovery plan for First Nations.
Asked about an internal investigation the AFN launched into allegations of harassment against her earlier this year, Archibald said she couldn't discuss specifics because of confidentiality.
But she did say she was never interviewed as part of that probe. She also said she believes it was relating to her having raised concerns about allegations of harassment and bullying of women, LGBTQ and two-spirit people at the organization — something she says will not happen under her watch.
"I knew that because I spoke out that there would be retaliation … but I kept walking forward because I believe in the truth," she said.
"I felt like a whistleblower when I brought those issues forward."
Because of this, Archibald says she supports a whistleblower policy for the AFN. She also plans to address concerns she's heard about the AFN being "opaque" in financial matters.
"I ran for national chief to bring better, more inclusive governance to the AFN, one that puts an emphasis on creating safe and healthy workplaces for all people, protected and respected, no matter what."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2021.
Teresa Wright, The Canadian Press
New national chief calls for reparations for Indigenous people
Ryan Patrick Jones, CBC
The newly-elected leader of the largest advocacy organization for First Nations in Canada has thrown her support behind the idea of reparations for Indigenous people.
Speaking at a virtual press conference one day after being elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald said settler colonialism has had dire effects on Indigenous people in Canada — effects that continue to this day and demand redress.
"Reparations are an essential part of the journey on reconciliation," Archibald said. "Our communities have had longstanding negative impacts as a result of colonization."
Archibald was responding to a media question about an report released last week by Sen. Patrick Brazeau, a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec, that examined the history of the relationship between the federal government and Indigenous people.
In a subsequent interview with online news site iPolitics, Brazeau said his report highlighted a history of "broken promises" and "Band-Aid solutions" to First Nations issues, and that reconciliation must include a "process of reparations."
Reparations should go beyond existing settlements: Archibald
The federal government has set up a number of mechanisms to compensate Indigenous people who experienced specific forms of discrimination or abuse.
The 2007 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement set up a "common experience payment" for all students who attended the government-sanctioned institutions, along with an "independent assessment process" for people who experienced sexual and physical abuse.
So far, those funds have paid out over $4.8 billion to residential school survivors.
A separate nationwide class action lawsuit brought to compensate survivors of federally-operated Indian Day Schools resulted in a settlement with the federal government. That settlement offers former students a range of compensation between $10,000 and $200,000, based on abuse suffered while attending the schools.
And a class action settlement agreement with Sixties Scoop survivors, signed in November 2017, set aside $750 million to compensate First Nations and Inuit children who were removed from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents between 1951 and 1991, and lost their cultural identities as a result.
Archibald said reparations for Indigenous people must go beyond these existing settlements.
"That's only one piece of reparations," said Archibald. "We need those reparations to happen not only with individuals, but communities and nations."
While Archibald didn't specify the exact form such reparations should take, Indigenous people often argue it should go beyond money and include returning control over land that was taken from them.
CBC requested comment from the federal government but has not received a response.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party is open to the idea of reparations.
"We know that the Government of Canada has stolen the lives, the culture, the identity, and the future of Indigenous people across Canada," Singh said in a media statement. "We must listen to those hurt the most by colonization and take action to build a new pathway towards reconciliation."
Jamie Schmale, Conservative critic for Crown-Indigenous relations, said his party recognizes that more work needs to be done to address the harmful effects residential schools have had on survivors.
"We also know that the path to reconciliation must be walked in partnership with Indigenous peoples," Schmale said in a media statement. "Trudeau has demonstrated time after time that he has no plans and only hollow words for Canada's Indigenous peoples."
Schmale said Conservatives have called on the Liberal government to take immediate action to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions' calls to action that deal with missing children and those who died at residential schools.
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