Municipal vocabulary and AI, without the jargon

The act respecting access to documents held by public bodies gives anyone the right to obtain a municipality's documents, subject to the restrictions provided. The access officer, often the clerk, processes requests within 20 days and applies the exceptions.

See alsoClerk's officePersonal informationUse casesLarge document

Quebec's framework act for planning. It defines the land use plan, the planning program, the zoning, subdivision and construction bylaws, the advisory committee, minor variances, PIIAs, PPCMOIs and the consultation and referendum approval procedures.

See alsoLand use and development plan (SAD)Planning programZoning bylawUse casesRule or bylaw

Professional associations of municipal staff: ADMQ (municipal directors, mostly of small municipalities), ADGMQ (general managers of larger cities) and COMAQ (certified municipal officers). They offer training and networks to their members.

See alsoUMQ and FQMGeneral management (GM)

The list of items to be dealt with at a council meeting, in order. It is sent with the meeting notice and adopted at the start of the meeting. The minutes follow its structure.

See alsoCouncil meetingMinutesUse casesMinutes

An assistant configured for one specific task: an instruction, an output format, reference documents (templates, bylaws, policies) and sometimes tools (web search, file generation). Munia offers more than 60 for municipal tasks; organizations also create their own.

See alsoReference documentsPromptUse casesCouncil resolutionRule or bylaw

Processing that removes or masks identifiable information from a text before sending it to an AI model, so that inference never has access to names, addresses or numbers. In Munia, this layer is optional and runs in Quebec.

See alsoPersonal informationInference

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Beyond its heritage role, BAnQ frames records management in public bodies: approval of retention schedules, compendium of retention rules, guidance on classification and archiving.

See alsoRetention scheduleUse casesArchives

The mandatory procedure for municipal contracts above the thresholds set by law: public call on the electronic tendering system (SEAO), opening of bids, analysis using a grid, award by resolution. The act on municipal contracts and the contract management bylaw frame each step.

See alsoResolutionUse casesTender grid

The hierarchical, coded structure of an organization's files (100 General administration, 200 Finance, 300 Human resources...). Each document is filed under a code, which makes it retrievable and lets the retention schedule apply.

See alsoRetention scheduleUse casesArchives

The department responsible for the municipality's official documents: meeting notices, agendas, minutes, resolutions, bylaws, public notices, archives and access to information. In municipalities governed by the Municipal Code, the role is the clerk-treasurer's; in cities, the clerk's.

See alsoMinutesResolutionPublic noticeUse casesCouncil resolutionMinutesPublic notice

A 2018 US law allowing US authorities to require an American provider to hand over data it holds, wherever it is hosted. That is why hosting in Canada with a non-American provider is one of the sovereignty criteria.

See alsoData sovereignty

A tool requiring, for an area to be developed, that a developer file an overall plan (streets, lots, uses, phases) approved by council before any regulatory change or permit.

See alsoPlanning program

A use a bylaw allows in a zone only if conditions are met, assessed case by case by council after the advisory committee's opinion and a public consultation. Provided for by the planning act.

See alsoPlanning advisory committee (CCU)Zoning bylawUse casesPermit application

A public meeting of the municipal council. Regular meetings follow a calendar adopted each year; special meetings are called by notice. Each meeting produces an agenda, minutes and resolutions.

See alsoAgendaMinutesUse casesMinutes

The decision-making body of an MRC, made up of the mayors of the local municipalities (or their representatives) and chaired by the warden. Its decisions take the form of resolutions and bylaws, like those of a municipal council.

See alsoMRC (regional county municipality)ResolutionUse casesDecision summary

Quebec's agricultural land protection commission. Any non-agricultural use, subdivision or transfer of a lot in the agricultural zone requires its authorization, in addition to municipal rules.

See alsoLand use and development plan (SAD)

The principle that an organization's data remains subject to the laws of the territory where it operates, and out of reach of foreign laws. For a Quebec municipality: hosting in Canada, contracts forbidding retention and reuse by providers, compliance with Law 25.

See alsoCloud ActZero retentionLaw 25

A document prepared by the administration for each item submitted to council: context, analysis, options, financial impact, recommendation. It lets elected officials decide with the same level of information. It is the longest document to write before a meeting.

See alsoGeneral management (GM)AgendaUse casesDecision summary

The highest administrative position in a municipality. The general manager links council and administration, prepares decision files and coordinates departments. In a small municipality, the same person often combines clerk, treasurer and human resources duties.

See alsoClerk's officeDecision summaryUse casesDecision summaryLarge document

A plausible but false answer produced by a model: a non-existent bylaw section, an invented figure, a fabricated quote. The safeguards: grounding the agent in reference documents, requiring the source to be cited, and keeping a person who checks before acting.

See alsoReference documentsHuman in the loopUse casesPermit applicationRule or bylaw

A nonprofit body managing the social housing of a territory, under the responsibility of the Société d'habitation du Québec and the municipality. Its administrative tasks resemble those of a small municipality.

The principle that a person rereads and approves what the AI produces before it has any effect: adoption, publication, sending, destruction. In Munia, it is the rule for every agent, and it is what makes the tool compatible with the accountability of elected officials and civil servants.

See alsoHallucinationAI agentUse casesCouncil resolutionArchives

The moment when the model processes a request and produces an answer. It is the only step where the text passes through the model provider, under a zero-retention contract in Munia's case. Storage of documents and conversations stays in Canada.

See alsoZero retentionLarge language model (LLM)

A body created by agreement between several municipalities to run a shared service: fire, police, water, waste. It has its own board, budget and bylaws.

See alsoMRC (regional county municipality)

An MRC's planning document setting the main land use orientations for its territory: land use designations, urban perimeters, agricultural zones, constraints. The local municipalities' planning programs and bylaws must comply with it.

See alsoMRC (regional county municipality)Planning programAct respecting land use planning and development (LAU)Use casesPermit application

An AI program trained on large amounts of text to understand and produce language. It knows nothing about your municipality on its own: the agent, with its documents and instruction, is what makes it useful. Munia lets you choose the model provider agent by agent.

See alsoAI agentInference

Quebec's 2021 act modernizing the protection of personal information in public bodies and businesses, in force in stages from 2022 to 2024. It notably requires a person in charge of personal information protection, privacy impact assessments, management of confidentiality incidents and a framework for transfers outside Quebec.

See alsoPrivacy impact assessment (PIA)Personal informationData sovereigntyUse casesCitizen emailsArchives

Quebec's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. It oversees municipalities and MRCs, approves certain loan bylaws and land use plans, publishes the directory of municipalities and administers several financial assistance programs.

See alsoMRC (regional county municipality)Land use and development plan (SAD)

Munia's connection to Outlook, Teams, calendar, OneDrive and SharePoint, available since May 2026. The document stays where it is; the employee no longer has to take it out and put it back. The connector is enabled with the approval of the organization's IT department.

See alsoMicrosoft Copilot

A general-purpose AI assistant integrated into Microsoft 365. It does not know the Quebec municipal context, offers no preconfigured agents for municipal tasks and is subject to the Cloud Act. Munia integrates with the same Microsoft 365 while keeping data in Canada and agents specialized.

See alsoCloud ActMicrosoft 365 integration

An exceptional authorization granted by council to depart from a zoning or subdivision standard (a setback, a height) when strict application causes serious prejudice and neighbours are not harmed. It goes through the advisory committee and a public notice.

See alsoPlanning advisory committee (CCU)Public noticeSetbacksUse casesPermit applicationPublic notice

The official record of a council meeting: attendance, items dealt with, resolutions adopted, votes. Drafted by the clerk's office, approved at the next meeting, it is the legal memory of the municipality.

See alsoResolutionCouncil meetingUse casesMinutesCouncil resolution

A grouping of local municipalities on one territory, led by a council of mayors and a warden. The MRC adopts the land use and development plan, manages regional responsibilities (property assessment, waste management, fire safety depending on agreements) and coordinates territorial development. Quebec has 87 MRCs plus equivalent territories.

See alsoLand use and development plan (SAD)Council of mayorsUse casesDecision summaryCouncil resolution

The annual forecast of revenue and expenses adopted by council before the fiscal year begins. It sets tax rates and fees. Its adoption is followed by a public notice and a presentation to citizens.

See alsoThree-year capital programTax billUse casesInvoices to Excel

A normative act of council, of general and lasting application, adopted through a procedure framed by law (notice of motion, filing of the draft, adoption, public notice of coming into force). Zoning, taxation, nuisances, traffic: bylaws structure municipal life.

See alsoZoning bylawPublic noticeUse casesRule or bylawPublic notice

The two acts organizing how Quebec municipalities operate: the Municipal Code of Québec for municipalities, townships and parishes; the Cities and Towns Act for cities and towns. They set the rules for meetings, resolutions, bylaws, positions and contracts.

See alsoClerk's officeResolutionUse casesRule or bylaw

The assembly of a municipality's elected officials: the mayor and councillors. It adopts bylaws and resolutions, the budget and the capital program, in public session. Council decides, the administration executes.

See alsoCouncil meetingResolutionUse casesDecision summary

A technique that turns the image of a scanned document into usable text. It lets an agent read a scanned PDF, an invoice or an old bylaw. The quality of the result depends on the quality of the scan.

See alsoReference documentsUse casesLarge documentInvoices to Excel

Authorizations issued by the designated officer (inspector) before work begins: construction or subdivision permit, certificate of authorization for a use, a demolition, a pool, tree cutting. Each application is checked against the applicable bylaws.

See alsoZoning bylawSite planning and architectural integration program (PIIA)Use casesPermit application

Any information about a natural person that allows them to be identified, directly or indirectly: name, address, email, file number, timesheet, complaint. Municipal documents contain a lot of it, hence the value of spotting it before sharing or archiving.

See alsoLaw 25Anonymization before inferenceUse casesArchivesCitizen emails

A committee of citizens and elected officials that reviews minor variance, PIIA and conditional use applications and draft bylaws, then makes recommendations to council. Its recommendations do not bind council.

See alsoMinor varianceSite planning and architectural integration program (PIIA)Conditional useUse casesPermit application

A local municipality's planning document, consistent with the MRC's plan: development vision, land use designations, densities, road layout. The zoning, subdivision and construction bylaws derive from it.

See alsoLand use and development plan (SAD)Zoning bylawUse casesRule or bylaw

A bylaw on specific construction, alteration or occupancy proposals for an immovable. It allows, under conditions, a project that departs from planning regulations to be authorized without changing the zoning, after a public consultation and the referendum approval process.

See alsoZoning bylawPublic consultation

An analysis required by Law 25 before any project to acquire, develop or overhaul a system that processes personal information, and before any communication of that information outside Quebec. It documents the risks and the measures to reduce them.

See alsoLaw 25Personal information

The request made to an agent or a model. A precise prompt (the task, the format, the audience, the constraints) yields a precise result; a vague prompt yields a vague one. Munia's agents already carry a detailed instruction, the user only describes their case.

See alsoAI agent

The inventory of properties on the territory with their value, prepared by the assessor (often the MRC's) and filed every three years. It is the basis for calculating property taxes.

See alsoTax billMRC (regional county municipality)

A meeting where citizens can express themselves on a draft planning bylaw, a PPCMOI or an amendment to the plan, before adoption. Called by public notice. Some decisions may then be subject to referendum approval.

See alsoPublic noticePPCMOIUse casesPublic notice

A mandatory publication by which the municipality informs citizens of a decision or a step: adoption of a bylaw, public consultation, call for tenders, minor variance, notice to electors. Its form and deadlines are set by law and by the municipal bylaw on the publication of notices.

See alsoMunicipal bylawPublic consultationUse casesPublic notice

Files attached to an agent to ground its answers: resolution template, style guide, zoning bylaw, collective agreement. A well-built agent starts from these documents rather than its general memory, which makes its answers verifiable.

See alsoAI agentHallucinationUse casesCollective agreementMunicipal bulletin

A council decision adopted by vote at a meeting and recorded in the minutes: awarding a contract, an appointment, a support motion, a spending authorization. Each resolution is numbered and can be certified as an extract. It is the most frequent official document of a municipality.

See alsoMinutesMunicipal bylawUse casesCouncil resolution

A records management tool setting, for each record series, the retention period in active and semi-active state, then the final disposition: destruction, permanent retention or sorting. Mandatory for public bodies under the Archives Act, it is approved by BAnQ.

See alsoClassification planBAnQUse casesArchives

The minimum distances to keep between a building and the lot lines: front, rear and side setbacks. Set per zone in the zoning bylaw, they determine the buildable area together with height and floor area ratio.

See alsoZoning bylawMinor varianceUse casesPermit application

A bylaw on site planning and architectural integration programs. In the areas concerned, a project must meet qualitative objectives and criteria (volume, materials, fit with the surroundings) assessed by the advisory committee before the permit is issued.

See alsoPlanning advisory committee (CCU)Permit and certificate of authorizationUse casesPermit application

An independent audit report, under the AICPA framework, assessing over a given period a provider's controls for security, availability and confidentiality. Type 2 verifies that controls operate over time, not only that they exist.

See alsoData sovereignty

A component of the planning program that plans a specific area in detail: downtown, an area to revitalize, the surroundings of a station. It specifies land uses, densities, public interventions and the planning rules for the area.

See alsoPlanning program

The annual bill sent to each property owner, calculated from the property assessment and the rates set in the budget. It often includes service fees (water, waste). Its mailing triggers a wave of questions to the finance department every year.

See alsoProperty assessment rollMunicipal budget

The municipality's plan for capital spending over three years: infrastructure, buildings, vehicles, equipment. Adopted each year with the budget, it lists projects, their cost and their funding.

See alsoMunicipal budget

Quebec's two municipal unions. The Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) mainly gathers cities and MRCs; the Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM) mainly rural municipalities and MRCs. Munia is a partner of the UMQ.

See alsoADMQ, ADGMQ, COMAQ

A table appended to the zoning bylaw summarizing, zone by zone, the permitted uses and applicable standards. It is the most consulted part of the bylaw and, in table form, the hardest for an AI tool to read.

See alsoZoning bylawUse casesPermit applicationRule or bylaw

Shorelines, littoral zones, floodplains and wetlands, protected by the Environment Quality Act and its regulations: the regulation on activities in wetlands, bodies of water and sensitive areas (RAMHHS) and the regulation on the framework for activities according to their environmental impact (REAFIE). Municipalities also apply their own shoreline rules.

See alsoZoning bylawPermit and certificate of authorizationUse casesRule or bylaw

A contractual clause with an AI model provider under which the data sent for inference is neither stored nor used for training. The model answers, then forgets. Munia works under this type of contract with its providers.

See alsoInferenceData sovereignty

The bylaw dividing the territory into zones and setting, for each, permitted uses, siting standards (setbacks, height, density), parking and special provisions. Often several hundred pages, with grids per zone.

See alsoUse and standards gridSetbacksConditional useUse casesRule or bylawPermit applicationLarge document