Recently ADRIA has hosted several webinars and virtual events with great success. We would like to offer more webinars/virtual events of interest to ADR practitioners. 

If you are interested in presenting, we would like to hear from you. Share your expertise in a specific area. Share some of the tools in your ADR toolbox with others in the field. Provide your perspective on a specific topic.

Webinars or virtual events could range from 1-3 hours and are offered at no charge or for a small fee.

Email membership@adralberta.com if you have an idea for a webinar or virtual event you would like to present. Content will need to be approved by ADRIA.

Mediators, and allied professionals, working with parties involved in potentially high conflict mediations need to understand and manage complexity, emotional intensity, and challenges that may arise during a mediation.

Using a trauma informed practice perspective, this course prepares mediators to manage aspects of high conflict mediations, including safety screening, dealing with parties experiencing poor mental health, addictions and substance use issues, strong emotions, and challenging behaviours associated with personality disorders. Mediators will be equipped with the tools to determine whether to proceed, and, if so, to mediate what can be high conflict discussions.

This course is designed to be flexible to meet your learning goals. Students can choose to take the 14 hour or 28 hour course.

Option 1: Understanding High Conflict
Hours: 14 credit hours
$750 members, $850 non-members

Option 2: High Conflict Mediation: Managing Conflict & Complexity in Mediation
Hours: 28 credit hours
$1100 members only

Dates: 
Option 1 & 2: June 23, June 30, July 7, July 14,
Option 2: + August 11

Registration deadline June 9th
Only 15 spots available

Details & Registration

Below you will find the recorded webinar from May 12, 2020.

Med-Arb is a distinct, innovative standalone process that is not as well known or understood by consumers of ADR services compared to mediation and arbitration.

Med-Arb is not merely the merging of separate mediation and arbitration processes, but a unique process designed to meet the needs of particular disputants. It involves nuances and complexities that can be fine-tuned to the needs of the parties as a customized dispute resolution process, which requires a high level of practitioner competence to do successfully.

As part of ADRIC’s roles of protecting the public and promoting best practices in ADR, the need for a designation certifying competence, experience and skills specifically in Med-Arb has been determined to be extremely important, especially as the use of Med-Arb is expanding in many areas of substantive disputes.

The ADRIC Med-Arb designation is unique in the ADR world and provides clearly defined criteria for those practitioners who wish to obtain it. This in turn provides users of ADR services with confidence that they can rely on the specific and specialized knowledge and experience of individuals with the designation.

By designing and implementing this designation in consultation with experienced ADR practitioners and by imposing strict requirements for members who wish to apply for the designation, ADRIC is confirming its commitment to the public and to its members as the premier ADR organization and thought leader in Canada.

Learn about the Med-Arb process and the rules surrounding this new designation.

FAMILY LAW DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESSES, RULE 4.16 AMENDMENTS AND FAMILY DOCKET COURT

May 19, 2020

In a March 31, 2020 Announcement, the Court encouraged counsel and the public to access alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, as a means of reducing delays and reducing the backlog in the Court after the restrictions on personal attendance in our courtrooms due to Covid-19 are relaxed: https://albertacourts.ca/qb/resources/announcements/alternative-dispute-resolution-consent-orders-and-applications-to-enforce-arbitration-awards

This announcement provides more information about the types of dispute resolution resources that are available in the Justice Ministry and in the community. As we move forward and current restrictions are relaxed, it remains important for family well-being and for the future of court operations, that counsel and the public undertake alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as a means of resolving family matters.

The Alberta Rules of Court were amended in March of 2020 to allow a Justice to direct by order that the parties participate in a dispute resolution process. In addition, for those matters that must go to trial, parties are not permitted to request a trial date unless they provide a certificate that they have participated in a dispute resolution process. (See Rule references at the bottom of this page)

In a May 13, 2020 Announcement, the Court launched a Family Docket Court to manage family matters more efficiently and in a way that supports families. In Family Docket Court, parties will be encouraged to attempt alternative forms of dispute resolution if they have not already done so and if it is appropriate in the circumstances.

https://albertacourts.ca/qb/resources/announcements/launch-of-family-docket-court

There are a number of tools, processes and alternative dispute resolution organizations available to assist in family matters, some of which are listed below for your convenience:

PARENTING TOOLS

There are many parenting apps that can be used to assist parents to resolve disputes and improve communication. Two of those platforms are listed below.

coParenter – a tool to empower families to resolve their own parenting issues. The platform includes online mediation and coaching, coronavirus-related safety plans, parenting plans, holiday and vacation schedules, agreements, education and support. For a period of 60 days during the pandemic, this tool is being made available to Alberta families at no cost. For more information go to https://rfjslab.wordpress.com/2020/05/15/coparenter-is-providing-a-free-60-day-licence-for-alberta-families/#more-925 . Families can register online and begin to use the coParenter tools by clicking on this link: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ https://coparenter.page.link/1dY6

Our Family Wizard – tools to manage schedules, track expenses, share files and communication are contained within this app, so parents can solve parenting challenges faster and without confusion: www.ourfamilywizard.ca/

MEDIATION

Mediation is a family-centered conflict resolution process in which an impartial third party (the mediator) helps the participants negotiate a consensual, informed and fair agreement. Mediators can be found through the organizations listed below.

Alberta Justice, Resolution Services, Family Mediation – a voluntary service to help parents and families resolve issues that affect their children. To qualify for this service, one of the parties must have a gross income of less than $40,000 per year, both parties must agree to participate, and there must be at least one dependent child who is either under 18, or over 18 and eligible for continued child support: https://www.alberta.ca/family-mediation.aspx

Alberta Family Mediation Society (AFMS) – a professional association of family mediators and parenting coordinators in Alberta: https://afms.ca/

Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Alberta (ADRIA) – a professional association of mediators, arbitrators and other ADR practitioners in Alberta: https://www.adralberta.com/

OTHER ALBERTA JUSTICE PROGRAMS FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Alberta Justice, Resolution Services, Dispute Resolution Officer Program  (DRO) –  Calgary. This program is for all parties in Calgary who have a child support dispute in the Court of Queen’s Bench. Parties must attend a DRO session prior to their court appearance. If an agreement on child support is reached, a Consent Order may be drafted and their dispute resolved: https://www.alberta.ca/dispute-resolution-officer-program.aspx or email DRO.Calgary@gov.ab.ca

Alberta Justice, Resolution Services, Child Support Resolution Program (CSR) Edmonton – This program is for self-represented parties in Edmonton who have a child support dispute. Self-represented parties must attend a CSR session prior to making an application for child support in the Court of Queen’s Bench. If an agreement on child support is reached, a Consent Order may be drafted and their dispute resolved: https://www.alberta.ca/child-support-resolution-program.aspx or email csr.edmonton@gov.ab.ca

COLLABORATIVE FAMILY PROFESSIONALS

Collaborative practice is a process that enables separating or divorcing spouses to create their own divorce (or separation) agreement with the support of specially trained professionals. It allows parties to resolve disputes without resort to a third-party decision maker, and may include legal, mental health, financial and other experts as needed. In Alberta, there is a provincial organization: Collaborative Divorce Alberta Association https://collaborativepractice.ca/ and six regional associations of collaborative divorce professionals:

• Association of Collaborative Family Professionals of Edmonton (ACFPE) which includes members from northern Alberta: https://collaborativepractice.ca/; https://divorceseparation.ca/
• Association of Collaborative Lawyers of Central Alberta (ACLCA): https://collaborativepractice.ca/;
• Association of Collaborative Professionals of Calgary (ACPC): https://collaborativepractice.ca/;
• Association of Collaborative Professionals of Lethbridge: https://collaborativepractice.ca/; https://www.bridgecollab.com/about.html;
• Association of Collaborative Professionals of North East Alberta: https://collaborativepractice.ca/;
• Association of Collaborative Professionals of Medicine Hat: https://collaborativepractice.ca/

A “Find a Professional” link at the top of the Collaborative Divorce Association of Alberta home page, allows a search for professionals by region.

PARENTING COORDINATION AND PARENTING EXPERTS

The role of a Registered Parenting Coordinator and Arbitrator (RPCA) is to help with communication and cooperation between parents for the purpose of effectively co-parenting their children. A parenting expert is a member of a regulated profession that recognizes for the purposes of registration a combination of education, training, experience, and continuous learning.

Alberta Family Mediation Society (AFMS) – a professional association of family mediators and parenting coordinators in Alberta: https://afms.ca/

AFCC (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts) Alberta Chapter https://www.afccalberta.org/referral-list

ARBITRATION

Arbitrators are independent decision-makers, appointed by contract to settle a dispute. You can find an arbitrator for family matters at the websites listed below.

Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Alberta (ADRIA) – a professional association of mediators, arbitrators and other ADR practitioners in Alberta: https://www.adralberta.com/

FamilyCounsel.ca is an online community for Alberta family lawyers, which includes a link to family law arbitrators, mediators and other family law related experts: https://familycounsel.ca/experts.php

ALBERTA RULES OF COURT REFERENCES:

Rule 4.16 is amended by adding the following after subrule (3):

(4)  A case management judge or a case conference judge may, on application or on the Court’s own motion, by order direct that the parties participate in a dispute resolution process.

(5)  In determining whether an order under subrule (4) should be made, the case management judge or case conference judge may consider all relevant circumstances, including

(a) the issues in the litigation,

(b) the nature of the cause of action and the relief claimed,

(c) the identity, relationship and means of the parties,

(d) whether the action has proceeded to a stage at which alternative dispute resolution is likely to be successful, including whether record production and questioning are sufficiently advanced to support the dispute resolution process, and

(e) whether any of the factors in subrule (2) justify delaying, modifying or dispensing with the need to participate in a dispute resolution process.

(6)  As part of an order made under subrule (4), the case management judge or case conference judge may give directions respecting any aspect of the dispute resolution process, including

(a) the identity of a neutral third party to be involved in the process,

(b) where an equal sharing of the expenses is not appropriate, directions apportioning the responsibility of each party for the expenses of the neutral third party and other disbursements relating to the process,

(c) the time, location, structure or conduct of the process, and

(d) the consequences of the failure of any party to comply with any directions, or to pay its share of the expenses.

Rule 8.4 of the Alberta Rules of Court

Rule 8.4(3)(a)(i) requires parties requesting a trial date to provide a certificate that they have participated in at least one of the dispute resolution processes described in Rule 4.16(1).

Note: The Court of Queen's Bench does not endorse nor take responsibility for the services listed and is providing this list to the public only for information purposes.

Applications are accepted until June 30th for Qualified Mediator (Q.Med), Chartered Mediator (C.Med), Qualified Arbitrator (Q.Arb) and Chartered Arbitrator (C.Arb). Make sure to include reference letters, transcripts, supervised mock mediation forms, etc. 

Remember that ADRIA has also introduced a fee holiday for any Chartered applications received in 2020 and the $200 application fee will be waived. 
  
For more information:

• How to Apply for an ADR Designation,  
• Designation Requirements,
• Designation Criteria and Application forms.

The next application window will be in October 2020.
 
If you have any questions, please email Sandra at education@adralberta.com.

You are invited to attend our online
Annual General Meeting:

June 11, 2020 at 6pm 
Online via Zoom

With an opening keynote address from the Honourable Mary Moreau, Chief Justice of Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench.

Register for the AGM

Mark you calendar for 6pm Thursday, June 11^th.  While ADRIA normally gathers for Wine & Cheese in Calgary & Edmonton for a connected AGM, it should come as no surprise that this year’s AGM will be entirely online. 

ADRIA’s formal AGM proceedings are usually concluded efficiently in just an hour, and this is your very best opportunity to meet the 2020/21 Board of Directors, learn how the society fared in 2019, and get an update on the changes underway for 2020 in the face of this unprecedented disruption. 

We suggest you bring your own wine & cheese this year, and the meeting will kick off at 6pm with an opening keynote address from the Chief Justice, followed by the formal AGM and an extended Q& A with the Board & staff – all using Zoom technology. 

Please plan to be there, and to continue supporting your hardworking Directors and dedicated staff.  We remain strong together. 

We look forward to an excellent at-home AGM, 2020-style!

Presenting … the 2020 Slate of Recommended New and Second-Term Directors (2020-2023)

After a careful consideration of the Board’s continuing composition and needs, the Board’s 2020 Nominating Committee, comprised of Kevin Kelly, Michelle Bonnici, Anna Rose and Paul Conway, are pleased to commend the four candidates presented herein for the membership’s consideration and approval. 

There has been one vacancy on the ADRIA Board of Directors since January.  A second Board member is stepping down early in June for personal reasons, and two more Board members will complete their first three-year term in June, and have expressed a willingness to return. 

The four candidates presented below, together with the other six returning Board members, bring balanced perspectives from Alberta’s many ADR interests, practices and sectors, as well as offering a balance of genders, geographical locations and underlying professions to the Board’s deliberations.  The Nominating Committee believes that collectively, they offer the right combination of skills and experience to not only guide ADRIA through the current economic and pandemic downturn, but to ensure we flourish in 2021 and beyond.  Directors are elected for a three-year term, or for a maximum of six years if re-elected.  The ADRIA Board of Directors operates as a strategic and policy Board, and oversees ADRIA operations only from that perspective. 

While the nominated slate of candidates is highly recommended to the membership for approval, there is still a nomination window of 14 days in which additional candidates can be nominated.  Additional candidates would participate along with those nominated below in an online voting process, with the results announced at the June 11^th Annual General Meeting (AGM).  Additional nominations must be communicated to the ADRIA Board of Directors Nominating Committee at board@adralberta.com before midnight, Monday May 11^th.  

New Board Member Nominees

Samuel H. Sele
Q.Med

Samuel H. Sele's interest in conflict resolution began early in life as a child growing up in the Liberian village of Fangonda. There, in the absence of a formal legal system, he learned firsthand the importance of interest-based negotiations. The elders of his village were often referred to as mediators and in situations of conflict they would call involved parties together and help them explore all relevant perspectives. The goal of the elders-come-mediators was to help each side develop a common understanding and to encourage parties to generate solutions amenable to all interests. Building off these childhood experiences, Sam aims to practice his belief in the importance of interest-based negotiations through his everyday interactions with people and their values.

Sam currently works as a Socio-Economic and ADR Specialist with the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) formally the National Energy Board (NEB). His role primarily involves working with CER’s regulated companies, landowners, Indigenous communities, stakeholders, and other land users to reach resolution on complex and often very controversial energy and pipeline development issues. Sam also provides professional advice to the CER’s leadership, Commissioners, and staff on socio-economic and conflict resolution matters relating to the energy industry.

Sam earned a Masters of Science in Sustainable Energy Development from the University of Calgary in 2010 and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Marketing in from the University of Minnesota. Sam has also completed certificate training in Conflict Resolution, Public Participation, Crisis and Risk Communication, and Sustainability. He is currently a member of the ADR Institute of Alberta (ADRIA), and the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2).

Sam currently lives in Calgary, Alberta with his wife and three children. When not working, Sam enjoys spending time with family, volunteering, and coaching his community youth soccer team.

Sharon Roberts
Q.Arb

Sharon is a Partner at Field LLP in Edmonton, where she practices in dispute resolution oriented litigation and as a Qualified Arbitrator. She assists parties primarily in occupational health and safety, commercial, contract, real estate, construction, municipal, indigenous, employment and environmental matters. As an arbitrator and member of the ADR Institutes of Alberta and Canada, Sharon enjoys working with parties to ensure fair, transparent processes and procedures yielding a final result that will enable them to bring closure to conflict. Sharon is also a Certified Psychological Health and Safety Advisor and an occupational health and safety legal practice, in which she advises and represents clients in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.

Sharon volunteers as the Board Chair of the Alberta Lawyers’ Assistance Society (Assist) and limps along as Board Secretary to her young sons’ community hockey league. She is a heart-led mentor, passionate animal rescuer, disability and mental health champion, runner and writer. Sharon is schooled in humility, is fiercely compassionate and suffers from periodic misanthropy. She tries her best, eats nut butters by the spoonful and loves her kids to bits.

Returning Board Member Nominees

Dora Dang
C.Med, C.Arb. 

Dora Dang is a Chartered Arbitrator (C. Arb.), Chartered Mediator (C. Med.), Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), Registered Family Mediator of Alberta (RFM) and Commissioner for Oaths in and for Alberta. Dora currently sits on the Board of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Alberta (ADRIA) as the Treasurer.

Dora is the co- founder and co-owner of Leap! Divorce Solutions Ltd. helping clients reduce the anxiety and stress often experienced during the divorce and separation process. Dora’s mission at Leap! Divorce Solutions Ltd. is to empower couples going through divorce to make decisions and form agreements outside the courtroom through arbitration and or mediation.

Dora has twenty-five years of experience working with the public, corporations, professional associations, not-for-profit, and government (police agencies, correctional agencies, educators and medical health professions).

Dora is a proud Calgarian and in her leisure time, you might find Dora chilling with family and friends or nurturing her inner “foodie” at a Calgary restaurant.

Amin Poonja 
Q.Med

Amin Poonja is a professional biologist and has worked in the fields of pest management and public health for over 35 years. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biology (BSc. Biology) from the University of Ottawa and a postgraduate (Dip MPM) in Pest Management from Simon Fraser University.
 
Over the last 25 years or so, he has been actively involved in volunteering on various institutional bodies within the Ismaili Muslim and the greater community, including being Chairman of the Aga Khan Education board, Vice Chair of the Aga Khan Social Welfare board, Member for the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Boards for Edmonton and the Aga Khan Economic Planning Board of Canada.
 
He has also served as President of the Pest Management Association of Alberta, Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Pest Management Association, member on the Telus - Yellow Pages Advisory Board and on board of directors of the MRJC (Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre).
 
He has a strong interest in conflict resolution and is currently the Chairman of the Aga Khan Conciliation and Arbitration Board for Edmonton (www.cabcanada.org). He believes that mediation has an important role to play in conflict resolution. He also believes that faith communities can play a huge role within their communities applying ADR principles to resolve disputes in an ethical, time sensitive and cost effective manner with a high degree of success.
 
His interests are travelling and learning through meeting and engaging with people.

Currently he is President of Ecopest Inc. – a company headquartered in Edmonton dealing in Pest control and Hygiene services throughout Alberta. He is married with 2 children (young adults) and a proud grandfather to 2 grandchildren.

On April 14, 2020 we hosted a webinar along with the FOAJ called A Story of Heroism & Survival with Marnie Bondar and Ilana Krygier Lapides.

View the recording below. Scroll down to read the Speaker's bios. 

Speaker Bio

Marnie Bondar

As the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, Marnie Bondar grew up well-fed on chicken soup and extraordinary stories of survival and heroism.  A tight bond with her grandmother, Freda Plucer, remained until Freda’s death in January 2020 and the two shared a lifelong commitment to standing up to intolerance and discrimination. While Freda can no longer personally share her experiences from the Holocaust, including life in the ghetto and in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Marnie considers it an incredible honour to bring her grandmother’s history to today’s generation.  Marnie is a regular volunteer for Calgary Jewish Federation, Second Voices Project, which is a series of videos brought into schools by 2nd & 3rd Generations of Holocaust Survivors.  With help from a generous grant from the Alberta Human Rights Commission, the Project has created multi-media addresses whereby children and grandchildren bring their parents’ or grandparents’ Survivor testimony to life in classrooms.  Students learn the history of the Holocaust through a Survivor's story while absorbing valuable lessons about Human Rights, tolerance and the dangers of hatred.  Marnie has spoken to thousands of students across Alberta for the last 5 years

Ilana Krygier Lapides

Ilana Krygier Lapides is a born and raised Calgarian and a proud first-generation Canadian. She is the granddaughter of 4 Holocaust Survivors and her father, of blessed memory, was a child Survivor during the war.  Ilana has had the honour to serve many organizations in the Jewish community, most notably the CJA Jewish Day School as a Yiddish and Pre-school teacher, the Calgary JCC as the Adult/Teen Director, and she was the Principal of Temple’s Shabbat school. Her volunteer work includes sitting on the executive of various Boards and serving many lunches at the Drop-In Centre. 

For the past 13 years, Ilana has been the Holocaust and Human Rights Educator for Calgary Jewish Federation - coordinating and educating tens of thousands of students through school education, Survivor visits, commemoration ceremonies, and the Federation flagship program, our Holocaust Education Symposium in cooperation with Mount Royal University which is celebrating its 36^th year in spring of 2021.  Most recently, Ilana helped institute Canada’s first city-wide Holocaust Remembrance Day with Calgary City Council. 

Ilana lives with her husband, David, and has three children and a very large dog. Ilana is currently attending Rabbinic school with the Jewish Studies Learning Institute out of New York, and will become an ordained Rabbi in June 2021. 

Discounted Zoom Membership for Full Members of ADRIA

ADRIA's Full Members can save a great deal on the regular cost of the Zoom for Enterprise Plan by subscribing via ADRIC ‘s Group Plan.  Price: $275/year. The Zoom plan subscription year is January 8, 2020 to January 7, 2021, so the fee will be prorated according to when you subscribe. TO SUBSCRIBE: please email ADRIC at admin@adric.ca and they will set up your portal with a billing at the prorated fees. Once paid, your account will be activated. Not only is Zoom the ideal platform for video/teleconferencing meetings, more and more members are using it for their online dispute resolution (ODR) practices.  Zoom offers many attractive features for ODR, including private breakaway rooms. Plan benefits include: Up to 500 participants per meeting or webinar Breakout rooms for caucusing Unlimited cloud recording and storage 24/7 Technical Support phone service Compare plans here: https://zoom.us/pricing

More Info on ADRIC's Website

Practice your role plays online!

Practice your mediations skills online in a three-session role-play package! Participants will be placed in groups of three and assigned role-plays in which they will be either the mediator, or one of the parties. The schedule for the three-sessions will be assigned in advance and emailed to the participants. For each group there will be two role-plays per session and over the course of the three sessions, each participant will have the opportunity to mediate twice. Each group will have a coach that will provide feedback on skill integration. These practice sessions are not intended to teach or give feedback on online mediation processes. Registration is open to ADRIA members. Participants are expected to attend all three sessions. Letters of completion will be emailed upon request. Full attendance of all three sessions represents 7 credit hours. Letters of completion and credit hours will only be provided to those that attend all three sessions. 3 weekly sessions of 2.5 hours online in flexible time slots. See registration page for more details.  Cost: $295 per participant

Details & Registration

April/May class has now moved online

This course introduces students to arbitration procedures and applications. Learn the arbitration process from conducting hearings to analyzing evidence and writing awards.  This course is suitable for both lawyers and other professionals without a legal background. If you are considering becoming an arbitrator, this course provides the training necessary to apply for a nationally recognized professional designation in arbitration. ONLINE Part 1: April 27, 28 & 29 (Mon-Wed) Part 2: May 25 & 26 (Mon-Tues)   Deadline for registration is April 6th. Details & Registration