Are you curious about what municipal issues were significant 40 years ago, the date when your neighbourhood park was established, or how your community grew? Council proceedings can help answer these questions, and many more. They are a rich and detailed source of information about the history of the city as well as about current urban issues. Although they can be complicated to use and somewhat dry to read, they are well worth the effort it takes to search them.

Council proceedings are the official, legal record of the decisions Council makes, and why. These decisions involve how the city is governed, how resources are allocated, how services are delivered to residents, and ultimately, what life in Toronto is like. Council proceedings show the interaction between our elected representatives, city staff, and citizens.

In order to be able to make decisions, Council members rely on information and expert advice from city staff. As well, city staff, in their day-to-day activities and contact with the public, see emerging issues that should be brought to Council's attention. Information between staff and Council flows through committees, both permanent (standing committees) and temporarily formed to address specific issues (special or ad hoc committees). Committees consist of small groups of Councillors who gather information from staff, discuss situations and alternatives, and make regular reports, including recommendations, to Council. Once Council has received this information, debated an issue, and made a decision, staff must implement that decision. At all stages, citizens have the opportunity, through letters and deputations, to make their views known.

What are Council proceedings?

Council proceedings include minutes, committee reports to Council, by-laws, and miscellaneous additional information. Videotapes and audiotapes may also be available.

Minutes tell briefly what happened at a Council meeting. They refer to topics debated, reports considered, by-laws introduced, communications received, and votes taken. They are not a word-for-word transcription of the meeting. (Such a transcription does not exist.) Minutes are usually the first section of the volume of proceedings, and are arranged chronologically.

Committee reports to Council are reports written by staff and reviewed by a committee. The committee adds comments if it wishes and forwards the report to Council. Committee reports offer much more detail about an issue than the Council minutes do, sometimes including maps, letters, historical overviews, budgets, and other information. Each committee report is given a sequential number throughout the year (for example, Executive Committee Report No. 1). Each item within a report, known as a clause, is also numbered.

Reports may be passed in whole by Council, passed in an amended form, sent back to a committee for further study, or voted down. Information about the status of a report is found in the minutes of the meeting at which it was presented to Council, and often at the end of the report. Committee reports to Council are sometimes found in the minutes section, and sometimes in a separate section of the volume of proceedings.

By-laws are municipal laws passed or amended by Council. By-laws are sometimes found in the minutes section, and sometimes in a separate section of the volume of proceedings.

Additional information can include election results, budget figures, speeches, lists of councillors present at each meeting, and other material. Often these are found in separate indexes at the back of the volume of proceedings.

Videotapes and audiotapes record exactly what happened at a Council meeting, including speeches made, votes taken, public participation, etc. They must be requested separately from volumes of proceedings.