Justice Innovation Projects

Justice innovation projects of Mediate BC have included the following.

Supported significantly by grants from the Law Foundation, the Child Protection Mediation Practicum (2006 to 2011) trained mediators, and in particular some 80 indigenous mediators, to qualify for inclusion in the Child Protection Mediator Roster.  This extremely challenging area of practice involved the development of partnerships with indigenous organizations throughout BC[1], including its most remote areas, to serve what has been and remains a great need.  We are proud to have shared the 2012 Premier’s Innovation and Excellence Prize for Partnerships with our partners in this project. View the Roster Here

The Technology-Assisted Family Mediation Project (2007 to 2013) resulted in Suggested Practice Guidelines, which were recently translated into French and adapted by the Barreau du Québec for civil and commercial mediators. View Report in English and French

The Aboriginal Human Rights Project (2011) explored a First Nation’s community-based approach to human rights dispute resolution. View Report

The Child Support Eligibility Project (2013) addressed mediation for issues related to support of adult children after separation or divorce. View Report

The Sliding Scale Family Mediation project (2013 to 2017) offered needs assessment and community referrals, as well as mediation at an affordable cost tailored to the parties’ income and assets.

Ground-breaking and foundational work in the med-arb process (2014) explored this emerging dispute resolution tool.  At that time, there was no policy framework for practitioners or clients in Canada, but increasing interest in a process that combined both mediation and decision-making in order to achieve finality, particularly in family law. This led to our current Standards of Conduct for Med-Arb and to the Med-Arb Roster. 

The Family Unbundled Legal Services Project (2016 to 2017) resulted in a roster of family lawyers offering unbundled legal services. This project offers support to families, who are seeking assistance for independent legal advice, agreement drafting, etc. at more affordable costs. View the Current Roster at the People's Law School website.