Delegates Won't Reaffirm Resolution To Suspend National Chief

An emergency resolution to reaffirm the suspension of National Chief RoseAnne Archibald failed yesterday.

The Assembly of First Nations' annual general assembly is now underway in Vancouver.

An emergency resolution to reaffirm the suspension of National Chief RoseAnne Archibald failed yesterday.

Archibald was suspended last month.

"I am 100 per cent committed to meeting with the regional chiefs. I need my phone back. I need my emails back. I need to be reinstated fully," she said.

The vote required the support of 60 percent of eligible delegates for approval, but the resolution was defeated, with the tally to come later.

Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir moved the motion saying there are rules for leaders and the situation has become a national embarrassment.

Thousands of delegates gathered for the annual Assembly of First Nations meeting in Vancouver to talk about the Pope’s visit, Indigenous rights, housing, and other priorities, but those issues were upstaged by Archibald's claims of corruption and infighting over her leadership.

She says a faction of chiefs are trying to undermine her leadership and that she was attacked for trying to investigate corruption within the assembly.

She has called for a forensic audit of the organization covering the last eight years.