In-Camera = No Camera ≠ Transparency

For a number of years I wondered why closed meetings were called in-camera.
It seems backwards - given that no cameras are allowed.  

Transparency is one of those political buzzwords it seems nowadays.
Like accountability, and synergy.
Words that sounds great, but like most verbs there is a quantifiable component to it.
You can run - slow or fast.
You can be transparent - a little or a lot.

It all boils down to the definition or interpretation.

Back to Transparency.  To me it's easy.  Open, honest communication.

Let's examine our council for the past three years.
71 total meetings.
49 in-camera meetings.

69%, over 2/3 thirds, of regular council meetings have had an in-camera component.
Without knowing any other information, facts and figures, does this value lend itself to transparency?

I did some research today around in camera meetings.  The community charter which guides what subject matter MUST be in-camera and what subject matter MAY be in-camera.  It is very interesting to learn that the list of MUSTS is very short - 5 items in fact.  Check out the attached documents for the details.

In Camera - Must

In Camera - May


49 in-camera meetings. 
I find it a stretch to think that there have been 49 meetings based solely on the items in the list of in-camera "musts". 
Therefore, many of the items in that list of "may" are being held in camera.  

If Council and the District were truly about transparency, would there not be far less in-camera meetings?  Rather than go in-camera with subject items on that list of "mays", perhaps they should consider the opposite approach and make it public.

As a comparison, I think to Bridgewater Associates.  One of the largest, and arguably most successful Hedge Funds.  They manage over $150 billion in investments for a wide range of clients.

Everything at Bridgewater is public within the company.  Every communication, every review, every performance, everything about everybody is public record.

If you went to work for Bridgewater, you could go on your little iPad and look and see every grade that Ray Dalio or Bob Prince or any individual received. Every grade, everything about their performance, their measurements, their test scores, etc.  You could watch every film of every senior management executive meeting.   They film everything. 

It’s totally transparent.