Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 12/98) - In the wake of the NWT Supreme Court decision on secret meetings at city hall, doors are opening in southern jurisdictions.

Days after Justice Howard Irving ruled on city council's secret-meeting habit, Edmonton city council replaced their "information sessions" with special meetings.

And this week, secret meetings of city council were scrapped in Salmon Arm, B.C., the new workplace of former Yellowknife senior administrator Doug Lagore.

Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith discontinued the meetings until further notice May 29, two days after Irving ruled secret meetings -- at which decisions were made in violation of territorial law --were illegal here. The timing appears to be co-incidental, although there is a link between the two cities on the issue.

"I didn't even know that was going on," said Smith. "Some councillors had concerns we may be doing something wrong at these meetings, so I suspended them (the meetings)."

Smith added the Yellowknife ruling here had nothing to do with his decision to go to the more open format.

What spurred the mayor's decision is a legal opinion requested by councillor Brian Mason, who had protested the way the closed meetings were being conducted. Edmonton councillors received the opinion May 26, said Mason, the day before the ruling.

But after Justice Irving gave his verbal ruling, the lawyer for Edmonton city council contacted Steven Cooper, the lawyer who won the secret meeting case for the Yellowknife Property Owners' Association.

"There was certainly an indication to me that Edmonton council acknowledged, or at least their lawyers acknowledged, they were getting pretty close to the line," said Cooper of the call.

Mason said the verbal ruling, and the written one Justice Irving has yet to issue, will have an impact on the way business is conducted in Edmonton.

"I think it will certainly reinforce what our lawyers have told us," said Mason. "And coming from a judge and not a lawyer, it adds to the weight of legal opinion against the meetings."

Shortly after the ruling came down, Lagore replaced Mayor Colin Mayes as the chairman of closed "pre-meetings" in Salmon Arm.

On Tuesday, Mayes announced the closed meetings would no longer take place. He said it had nothing to do with the Yellowknife case.

"I've talked about this with our administrator (Lagore), and that in Yellowknife they did take minutes, and I understand there was even a couple of votes taken. We've never done that."

Mayes did concede one vote was taken at the closed pre-meetings, on a proclamation of Gay and Lesbian Week.

Mayes said the decision to end the meetings was a response to criticism from a local newspaper.

"It's a situation where a newspaper has felt slighted by not being allowed to attend these meetings, and has been wasting room on stories accusing council of being secretive, which is ridiculous."

Cooper said the impact of the Yellowknife decision is still lost on politicians who insist as long as there are no motions made or votes taken closed door meetings are legal.

The true criteria, said Cooper, is whether city business is "materially advanced" at the meetings.