Dispute Resolution Office

Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy and Design
There is considerable interest in resolving civil disputes outside of the formal court system. Options such as mediation are being employed by the courts, administrative tribunals, and ministries and agencies of the Government of BC to provide people with viable dispute resolution processes. These initiatives are largely outcomes of considerable research and study carried out in the 1990's by organizations and professional groups across common law jurisdictions, for example, the Canadian Bar Association's Systems of Civil Justice Task Force Report, Lord Wolff's Report on Access to Justice, England, and Managing Justice: A Review of the Federal Civil Justice System, a report published by the Australian Law Reform Commission.

The Ministry of Attorney General has adopted an ADR Policy, signalling its commitment to a justice and conflict resolution environment which includes a wide range of dispute resolution options. In 1996, the ministry established the Dispute Resolution Office (DRO) to develop and implement dispute resolution options in the court system and in government.

Since 1996, the DRO has worked with a number of government ministries, boards, agencies and commissions to design and help implement a dispute resolution processes. It has also helped organizations consider ways to improve existing processes to make them more efficient and effective. A number of matters must be considered and decisions made in order to successfully integrate a new dispute resolution option into an existing or a new program. Creating these options is much more than adding a "mediation" or "alternate dispute resolution process" box to a work flow chart. The DRO works closely with clients and with specialist contractors to customize a process that works best for a specific program and its clients.

In order to get an idea of the scope of this work and the kinds of matters that any organization must consider to implement a dispute resolution option, the DRO has written A Guide to Designing Public Sector Dispute Resolution Systems. [PDF] While this guide is written with public section programs in mind, particularly administrative tribunals, the material in the guide will be relevant to programs outside of government as well. The guide is a good starting point for organizations considering introduction or a review of dispute resolution options.

Another resource developed by the DRO, in partnership with the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC (CLE), is a four volume set of training materials: the Dispute Resolution Series. Again, these materials will be of particular interest to public sector organizations, but they contain helpful information for any program considering the advantages of incorporating a dispute resolution option.