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Committee meeting minutes
I am a member of a sports federation. I have requested signed off minutes from a committee meeting. It has been declined.
Can they do this?
I believed that under the freedom of speech act section 4 (hope thats correct) and the fact they are a legal documents. And as such I can request sight of them.
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You should ask a lawyer, but unless your Federation is the type of organization that must make these minutes public, or has a bylaw or rule that states all members are entitled to committee meeting minutes, than no, you probably don't have a legal right to them.
It doesn't matter that they are 'legal' documents, not all legal documents are public documents. You couldn't demand to see your co-workers employment contract, or the minutes from a committee meeting at Zellers. Those might well be official or 'legal' documents, but they are also private documents. They might be demanded by a lawyer or judge as part of a case, but you have no right to them as an individual.
The right to Freedom of Speech covered by the First Amendment doesn't have anything to say about information access (and there is no act by the name you give here that can find in the US, so if you aren't in the US you should include that fact.)
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) only applies to government documents, and some private organizations that do take contracts with the government (ie, FOIA might apply to information regarding the companies that pave roads or build public schools.)
Some non-profits are also required to release some types documents on the request of a citizen or member.
In the end tho, you should ask a lawyer. They'll know what the deal is with this specific federation, and your specific country/state.
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