Mandatory Mediation has became a permanent feature of the rules of Toronto and Ottawa courts in 1999 and at some point, mandatory mediation will eventually be a requirement in court for most of the province of Ontario. Mandatory mediation states that within 30 days of filing a litigation process, the parties must choose a mediator. The choice of a mediator may be from the court-approved list of mediators , or as agreed upon between the parties. If the parties fail to choose a mediator within the required time, a mediator from the roster is assigned to them. In the case of disagreement over the mediator, the party with carriage of the mediation has to notify file with the Local Mediation Coordinator to request that a mediator is assigned to the case. Once a mediator is appointed, the mediator must set a date for the mediation and serve notice regarding the date, time and venue on all who must attend at least 20 days before the mediation session.
Mandatory mediation rule applies to most non-family civil court matters where the claim exceeds $50,000.00.
The Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program exempts family law cases, which have been filed in court, from mandatory mediation. However, mediation is still a good option in order to save time, money and aggravation. Using mediation as a method of solving disagreements means that there are no embarrassing court appearances, where personal issues are brought out into the open court, indeed with mediation, personal issues can remain private and there is no strict code of conduct to follow, so all parties may speak more freely than if they went to court. Confidentiality plays a crucial role in mediation and mediators cannot be forced to give evidence in court unless the case involves actual or threatened criminal acts or child abuse.