The Mediation Centre - Oakville, Ontario

Derek Koch

My own experience with the Mediation Centre was entirely unproductive. We had a total of three sessions, each one about three hours long. The meetings themselves seemed productive and were not the issue. The issues began following the last session.

The summary document that was promised did not arrive on schedule. Nor did any communication arrive from the mediator about the delay. Two weeks passed without any communication from the mediator. This delay crossed the dated thresholds of the first mediated commitments. Disagreements related to what occurred in mediation subsequently fed additional conflict. When I asked for a new ETA, explaining that the delay was empowering additional conflict, the mediator explained she had been ill and committed to providing the completed mediation summary within 10 days, 18 days later than promised.

In spite of a reminder note, the new timeline came and went without a summary report or note from the mediator. Much additional conflict occurred during that delay. No communication arrived regarding the report or the need for more time. Another email was sent to the mediator asking for another ETA. A new commitment was made for the end of the following week, 25 days late.

The new deadline came and went without any update from the mediator. Another inquiry to the mediator received another commitment for a new ETA. I had occasion to discuss the delay with a peer. My peer had used the same mediator. My peer reported that the same mediator had delivered a mediation summary five months after the last mediation session, and that the report was all but useless by the time it arrived, making the mediation process futile.

My mediation summary arrived a full five weeks after the last mediation session, a full month after the initial deadline. The delay empowered much additional conflict.

The mediation document was inaccurate. No individual mediation notes had been provided on a “session by session” basis. There was no recourse or option to review or amend the summary prior to final reporting. When these inaccuracies were presented to the mediator, specifically the lack of documentation of underlying conditions of agreements, the mediator replied that “There were a number of areas where despite significant conversation in mediation, we were unable to agree on final terms. Since I only report on agreement, some of the areas you comment on were related to such discussions.” Documenting agreements without documenting the underlying conditions is, to me, like taking someone skydiving, not giving them a parachute, and still expecting them to jump out of the plane. This is the metaphor I provided to the mediator to explain my dissatisfaction with her approach. The mediator agreed to distribute my comments to all participants. Two months later, there had been no followup from the mediator of any kind.

If you need to work with the Mediation Centre, bring your own administrative skills, and do not surrender any of your advocacy. Do not assume the best. Take extensive contemporaneous notes detailing every commitment and condition, and email those notes to the mediator following each session. Request (and even demand) session notes at the beginning of each session detailing the mediator’s understanding of the commitments from the prior session to ensure your commitments are not misunderstood or mischaracterized. Insist on a final session in which you review an interim summary to allow you an opportunity to discuss inaccuracies in the mediator’s report prior to accepting a final summary.

A mediator must have more than good intentions, they need excellent execution. It’s my opinion that the intentions here are good, but the execution in this case (administrative skills, documentation, communication, meeting timelines) was horrific, and I would not recommend that you use The Mediation Centre’s services.

Maria Baggetta

Maggie Hall & her team were professional & knowledgeable about all aspects of my case. She took all of my concerns seriously. It was a pleasure to work with the entire Mediation Centre team.

John Hall

Katie Hall