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Ask a lawyer session with Macleod Law
A few months ago at the Q&A , Laurie Kiedrowski, in my understanding, said that owners can silently observe board’s meetings via Zoom or in person , with the exception when private matters are discussed. She added that some corporations were doing it already.
Please correct me if I misunderstood.
Important because of what our PM advised the board in writing (see below) in response to an owner’s request to observe:
“many privacy issues are discussed at board meetings therefore are not open to owners that are not board members”
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5 Replies
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You may have misunderstood. In our experience, a few boards allow owners to observe board meetings, except when ‘in-camera’ items are discussed.
It is a matter for the owners/the board the decide. In my experience, there are very few boards that permit this.
I owned a unit in a condo that permitted this and I personally really liked it.
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Thank you Terry.
Is the bottom line that it is not against the law for an owner to observe and it can be open to owners who are not on the board? Is that correct? Or is the PM’s response accurate?
Our board didn’t post minutes for almost a year and there’s no way to find out what is happening. Including outstanding time sensitive issues.
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There is nothing in the Act that prevents anyone from attending to observe a Board meeting. If the Board has sensitive items to discuss, they can go in-camera and that would not be available to an owner.
In my experience, a board may take that approach or ask their manager to give that response if they have had disruptions from individuals attending, but that doesn’t make it right.
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Thank you Brian!
From what I know, the management company is dictating to our board what to do and what is right or wrong. The current PM is actually the owner/operator with 30 years experience in the business and is on the RECA advisory committee. So should have known (likely did know) that it is not against any regulations for a non member to attend a meeting. Therefore misinformed the board.
I was hoping that someone who also participated in the ASK a Lawyer would remember if my recollection of what Laurie Kiedrowski said is accurate. I didn’t want to quote her if I was mistaken. Quite sure that she said that it is perfectly legal to observe and some corporations are already doing so.
