Belleville’s Cultural Exchange Committee met behind closed doors without public notice: Ombudsman

Disclosure: the author of this article filed the closed-meeting complaint described below.

Ombudsman Ontario released a report (below) on June 29, 2026, finding that the City of Belleville broke open meeting rules with its Cultural Exchange Committee. The Ombudsman found the Committee met on February 15, 2022 and February 24, 2023 without giving the public any notice, so they were effectively closed to the public, violating open meeting rules (Section 239(1) of the Municipal Act) intended to ensure transparency and accountability.

The Committee organized the “twinning” events with Belleville’s three sister cities – Gunpo, South Korea; Lahr, Germany; and Zhucheng City, China – where the City sends or receives elected representatives and delegates to/from a sister city, to visits businesses and manufacturers, share knowledge, skill and perspectives and showcase the city and surrounding areas.

The City told the Ombudsman the Committee stopped operating sometime after the February 24, 2023 meeting, deciding to instead have staff in the Mayor’s office take over Committee’s responsibilities and make decisions internally. Belleville Council formally closed the Committee in October 2025.

The Committee’s responsibilities and its activities are now effectively “closed to the public”, barring an FOI request.

Ombudsman finds the Committee was subject to open meeting rules

At its final meeting on February 24, 2023, the Cultural Exchange Committee had five members: the Mayor, two councillors, and two citizen members. Because three of the five sat on council, the Ombudsman found the 50% threshold was met and the Committee was a committee of council subject to the open meeting rules.

Committee failed to give public notice of two meetings

Belleville’s procedural by-law requires notice of committee meetings through the release of an agenda and by posting the meeting’s time and date on the City’s website.

The Ombudsman found no evidence that this was done for the meetings on February 15, 2022 or February 24, 2023. The City Clerk and the Manager of Mayor and Council Services and Communications told the Ombudsman that, as far as they understood, agendas for the Committee’s meetings were not made public.

Public notice is central to open meetings. Residents cannot attend a meeting they do not know is happening. Without notice, the Ombudsman found, the two meetings were effectively closed to the public, contrary to Section 239(1) of the Act.

Recommendations

The Ombudsman made three recommendations:

1. All members of council and committees should be vigilant in meeting their obligations under the Municipal Act, 2001 and the City’s procedural by-law.
2. The City should provide public notice in advance of all committee meetings.
3. The City should make the minutes of all committee meetings publicly available.

Report