Behind closed doors: how often Windsor council met
How often did Windsor council meet behind closed doors? 16 closed sessions in 2023, 20 in 2024, 21 in 2025 and 18 so far in 2026. With committees, 105 since Nov. 2022. We counted every one from the City's minutes.
Topics: Council and City Hall
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Windsor's council and its committees met behind closed doors 105 times from the start of the 2022 to 2026 term on Nov. 15, 2022, to the last minutes the City has posted, from Sept. 28, 2026. We counted every closed session from the City's own minutes.
Council, year by year
2022 (from Nov. 15): 2
2023: 16
2024: 20
2025: 21
2026 (to Sept. 28): 18
Committees and boards added 3 closed sessions in 2023, 10 in 2024, 10 in 2025 and 5 so far in 2026. Most were the Striking Committee, which recommends appointments to boards and committees.
Why council can close a meeting
Ontario's Municipal Act lets council meet in closed session (in camera) only for a short list of reasons, such as legal advice, land deals, labour talks and personal matters about an identifiable person. Council later adopts a report of each closed session in public, and that motion is what we counted.
What the new council said
Mayor-elect Fred Francis (unofficial result) promised on his campaign site to publish detailed descriptions of in-camera meeting agendas and to audit in-camera meetings every year. The new term starts Nov. 15. We will measure it against these counts.
How we counted
One closed session is one body, one date and one session number. The City posted three minutes PDFs twice under different names; we counted each meeting once. A session is counted when its report is adopted, so sessions whose reports have not yet appeared in posted minutes are not counted yet. This counts sessions, not hours or items.
