Appearing Before Nanaimo City Council

Council Meetings:

To appear as a delegation at a Council meeting the topic you wish to speak about must be an item already on the Council agenda.  Council agendas are published on the City of Nanaimo website at 4:00 p.m. Thursday before the meeting.  Your delegation request must be received prior to 11:00 a.m. on the Monday of the meeting.  For further details regarding appearing as a delegation please review our webpage Appearing as a Delegation.

Committee of the Whole Meetings:

If the topic you wish to speak about is not an item on a Council agenda, you can request to be added as a delegation to a Committee of the Whole Agenda.  Requests to appear as a delegation at a Committee of the Whole meeting must be received prior to 11:00 a.m.  the Monday of the meeting.

Finance and Audit Committee Meetings:

Finance and Audit Committee meetings assist Council in the overseeing of finances for the City of Nanaimo.  Delegation requests seeking funding or related to financial matters will be directed to the next available Finance and Audit Committee Meeting.  To learn more about the Finance and Audit Committee click here.

Question Period:

While attending a Council or Committee of the Whole meeting members of the public are welcome to ask questions during question period.  A Question Period sign up list will be available during the meeting.  Before the start of Question Period the City Clerk will review the Question Period List and submit it to the Chair of the meeting.  Questions are restricted to agenda items considered at that meeting.

The Hierarchy of Laws:

The hierarchy of laws applicable to municipal governments, elected officials and Staff:

• Provincial legislation such as the Community Charter, Local Government Act, Privacy Laws, Employment laws, …
• Bylaws - a form of legislation established by local government to resolve local issues.  Best practices for bylaws are high level rules supplemented by guidelines so that changes can be made without going into bylaw amendments.
• Motions/Resolutions – a record of a decision or request of Council which deals with regular administrative and management matters.
• Policies – corporate direction that is formally adopted by Council resolution, providing guidance to Staff on how to implement policies.
• Guidelines - for the interpretation of a bylaw to ensure it is consistent with the relevant clause and does not override it.

How can I apply?

1. You can sign up on the Question Period List during a Council or Committee of the Whole meeting.  
2. To appear as a delegation before Council or the Committee of the Whole you must submit a written request to the Legislative Services Department outlining the presentation topic.  Applications to Appear as a Delegation at a City Council Meeting are available on our website.  You can submit your delegation request online on our Appearing as a Delegation webpage, or you can click here to download the PDF form:  NEW Delegation Request Form

*All speakers on any item will be given 5 minutes to speak.  A maximum of three delegations are permitted to speak to any one item on Committee of the Whole agendas.