Mediation has become a cornerstone of Canada’s civil justice system. Whether driven by mandatory programs or chosen voluntarily, it offers parties an efficient, relationship-focused path to resolution. And with the Ontario Civil Rules Review poised to expand its role, mediation’s prominence is only set to grow.

I am still surprised when I am retained as a mediator by counsel who I have never worked with in the past nor even spoken to. While I am happy to have the opportunity, it concerns me and raises a crucial question: how are mediators being selected? Are lawyers choosing mediators based on their . . . [more]

Ten years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set out some recommendations for cultural competency training for lawyers, law students and public servants. The Calls to Action (numbers 27, 28 and 57) call for education/training on the history of Indigenous peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. The Commission stated that such training would require “skills based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism”.

There were no calls to action for education or training of judges. . . . [more]

As artificial intelligence and digital tools transform nearly every professional field, dispute resolution is no exception. But are these technologies merely enhancing traditional ADR—or are they fundamentally reshaping it?

The widespread adoption of video conferencing, AI-assisted case management, and online negotiation platforms has rapidly moved dispute resolution online. What was once the exception is now the norm. As a result, the boundary between Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) has become increasingly blurred. But does this distinction still matter? I believe it does—because how we define and design these processes directly affects fairness, access, and the role . . . [more]

It’s hard to keep up with the pace of change/disruption in the United States these days, but much of it is the culmination of a longer trend of an attack on due process rights that is clearly set out in a new book by Professor Brandon L. Garrett – Defending Due Process: Why Fairness Matters in a Polarized World. There are some lessons in this book for Canadians as well.

I talked to Professor Garrett about the origins of the book:

… It used to be that procedural fairness to concepts were central to legal education. … But over

When issues arise in condos, there are benefits to working with those involved to address them. Collaborating offers advantages unavailable through an adversarial path – such as relationship preservation and creative, sustainable outcomes which extend beyond a tribunal’s jurisdiction. The Condominium Authority of Ontario offers an array of online resources to support collaboration, from communication guidance to help identifying issues, to understanding how the law applies to them and more.

The CAO’s Condominium Authority Tribunal further encourages collaboration within its three-staged online process. Once a case is filed, parties experiencing a dispute are invited to address their issue together through . . . [more]

2024 has been a tough year. I don’t know about you, but I needed to end the year with something good to cling to going into 2025. The Advent season spurred a lot of talk about hope, so I looked for things that provided a glimpse of hope for the future of access to justice in BC and beyond. We are tired and need encouragement to keep working.

The good news is that there is much to be hopeful about in the A2J space! Here are some links (Note 1) that crossed my desk in the last month showing recent . . . [more]

Justice must be fair and impartial, but also must be seen to be fair and impartial – and inclusive tribunal processes are a big contribution to the sense of fairness that all participants in a tribunal proceeding are entitled to receive.

Language – and people’s perception of that language – is an important gateway to fairness (and perceptions of fairness). Karen Yin has a website that focuses on the language of equity and has also recently published a book that serves as a useful guide to the use of what she terms “conscious language”: The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible . . . [more]

Since the publication of the ADR Institute of Canada’s Med-Arb Rules in 2020, Med-Arb has become much more widely accepted as an integrated dispute resolution process in Ontario. Despite this many counsel and parties still have a significant degree of resistance to its use. In the best-known form of med-arb, a single neutral acts as both mediator and arbitrator. The process only transitions into arbitration if the mediation fails; in that case, the med-arbitrator conducts the arbitration and issues a binding decision.

This process offers time and cost efficiencies over stand alone mediation and arbitration and guarantees an outcome, it . . . [more]

Professor John Lande has just published a terrific article “Theory and Practice of Mediation Representation”. He has also posted a summary here. Professor Lande acknowledges that there is much more written about how to mediate (as mediator) than how to represent clients in mediation (as counsel). Given that it is very common for lawyers to support clients in mediation, he gathers the best existing literature on the subject and presents both a theoretical framework for analyzing mediation representation and practical techniques for lawyers to use. There are helpful tables and checklists describing tasks for both lawyers and mediators. . . . [more]

The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) has issued ethical guidelines for judges on the use of social media. These guidelines could be a useful template for updating or expanding codes of ethics for tribunal members. In this column I identify some of the key parts of the guidelines as well as some of the shortcomings.

The CJC defines social media, using the Oxford English Dictionary definition as its foundation:

 … social media is defined as “websites and applications which enable users to [access], create and share content or to participate in social networking.” This definition encompasses a wide variety of tools,

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has suddenly emerged as a disruptive force across numerous sectors, including the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The integration of AI into the mediation process holds the promise of enhanced efficiency, reduced costs, and improved access to justice. However, at this stage, it is virtually impossible to fully grasp the potential impact on mediation, both in its immediate and long-term effects.

AI has been around since the 1950s and we are all familiar with it in one form or another. But GPT type AI is a different technology compared to earlier AI. It will change our . . . [more]

“All people want and need to be Heard, Seen and Loved” (HSL).

— In That Order —

The Dalai Lama (Note 1)

The Youth Voices Initiative (sponsored by the BC Family Justice Innovation Lab Society) is a youth-led group that has been working for over 7 years to advocate for children’s right to have their views heard about issues affecting their lives resulting from parental separation. Note 2

The United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (UNCRC), Article 12 confirms that this is a RIGHT of children and youth – not a privilege granted by adults.

In 2022, . . . [more]