Ban on recording council meetings on personal devices in Ontario town repealed after charter challenge

Members of the public can now record Whitby council meetings on their personal devices after a policy change meant to “modernize” the town’s approach to transparency was approved Monday.

A legal advocacy group who had taken on a case involving a resident prevented from recording her own public delegation last year said the former policy prohibiting the public from recording meetings violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and “must be repealed.”

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms had been acting on behalf of Jeanette Miller, a retired insurance broker who was told she couldn’t record her delegation at a Whitby Sustainability Committee meeting on June 4.

Miller was speaking to committee members about climate and energy policy as a volunteer with Canadians for Sensible Climate Policy and wanted to record her presentation so it could be shared with others as an example of citizen participation in local government.

Two minutes into her presentation a committee member interrupted her delegation and told her the town prohibits audio and video recording by members of the public at council and committee meetings.

According to the Justice Centre, a registered charity founded in 2010 that defends the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through litigation and education, the committee also declined Miller’s request to obtain a copy of the delegation’s presentation recorded by the town.

Constitutional lawyer Darren Leung said recording and sharing public meetings is protected by section 2(b) of the Charter. “While there are limited circumstances where governments may restrict recording, an open meeting of town council is not one of them.”

Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy said she last month she was aware of the challenge and that staff have been working on updating the town’s procedure by-law since May 2024 “to make it more fair, transparent, and reflective of how our community expects local government to operate today.”

That update was presented to council Monday, with councillors approving amendments to allow members of the public to use personal devices to record council and committee meetings. Council and committee meetings are already livestreamed, and meeting recordings are also available to the public on the Town’s website.

The by-law was also amended to put safeguards in place to ensure members of the public not use recording devices “in a manner that is disruptive to the proceedings, creates a hazard, obstructs the view of others, or may be reasonably perceived as an attempt to intimidate, harass, or impede any person’s participation in the meeting.”

“Good governance is a key theme in Whitby’s Community Strategic Plan, and I’m proud of the progress we’re making,” Roy said.