Can a Metis settlement council review membership applications at a public meeting?
• No it cannot. Unless the applicant consents, the discussion of a person’s membership application during the public phase of a meeting would be an unreasonable invasion of the applicant’s personal privacy under section 17(1) of the FOIP Act. • All settlement council meetings are public meetings, but under section 37(1) of the MSA, a settlement council can vote to go into committee of the whole or part. In this way, it can exclude persons who are not members of the committee from the applicant discussion meeting. • To formally accept an applicant as a new settlement member, the council is required to revert back to a public meeting for the resolution vote under section 37(2) of the MSA.
