Mediation & Arbitration

About Mediation & Arbitration

Most disputes do not need a courtroom. Mediation and arbitration are two ways of resolving one privately, usually faster and at a fraction of the cost of litigation, and with far more say over how it is handled. In MEDIATION, a neutral third party helps the people involved reach their own agreement. The mediator does not decide anything and does not take a side. They structure the conversation, keep it productive, and help both parties find terms they can each live with. Nothing is binding unless everyone agrees to it. In ARBITRATION, a neutral third party hears both sides and makes a decision. It works more like a private hearing: evidence is presented, arguments are made, and the arbitrator issues an award that is binding. It is used when a decision is genuinely needed and the parties would rather not wait for, or pay for, a courtroom. MED-ARB combines them. The process begins as a mediation, and if the parties cannot settle, the same neutral switches roles and issues a binding decision. Because one person handles both stages, nobody has to retain and brief a second neutral, and the matter reaches an end rather than stalling. Matters handled here include strata disputes, construction and contract disagreements, civil and commercial matters, and family matters. Sessions can be held in person at the clinic or online, which usually makes scheduling considerably easier when several people have to attend. FAMILY MATTERS ARE HANDLED THROUGH MEDIATION rather than arbitration. British Columbia now runs a mandatory Early Resolution Program, so people in many family disputes have to meet with a mediator before a judge will hear the matter. BC also restricts who may arbitrate a family dispute far more tightly than most provinces, and in practice family matters here are almost always mediated rather than arbitrated. TWO RELATED SERVICES sit alongside this work. A Hear the Child report is prepared by a neutral who interviews a child and sets out what the child said, without making recommendations, so their perspective reaches the adults deciding without putting the child in the middle of it. Supervised access provides a calm, neutral setting for visits between a parent and child. This is not healthcare, and we do not present it as such. It sits at The Healing Oak for a simpler reason: unresolved conflict costs people their sleep, their focus and their health, and a calm, private, unhurried room is a better setting for difficult conversations than most of the alternatives. Nothing said in a mediation here is medical care, no clinical record is made of it, and it is not billed through any health plan.

Benefits

• Private, with none of the public record a court proceeding creates
• Usually faster and far less expensive than litigation
• You keep a say in the outcome, or in who decides it
• Scheduled around the people involved rather than a court calendar
• Available in person at the clinic or online

When to Consider Mediation & Arbitration

Consider mediation when a dispute has stopped moving on its own and the next step would otherwise be a lawyer's letter or a court filing. It suits disagreements where the parties have an ongoing relationship worth preserving, such as separating parents, neighbours in a strata, a contractor and an owner, or colleagues who still have to work together. It also suits matters where the cost or delay of litigation would exceed what is actually in dispute. If you are dealing with a family matter in British Columbia, you may be required to meet with a mediator before a judge will hear it.