Mandatory Mediation to be Expanded Throughout Ontario, Finally!!!!

In the CIVIL RULES REVIEW : FINAL POLICY REPORT Submitted by the CRR Working Group which was released on December 15, 2025 my long sought reform to the OMMP has finally been realized.

Mandatory mediation of most civil disputes in Ontario will apply Province wide and no longer be limited to only Toronto, Ottawa and Windsor actions .

The highlights are as follows :

  1. Mandatory mediation to be expanded throughout the Province.
  2. Eliminating the judicial settlement aspect of pre-trial conferences, while retaining a discretion to schedule judicial settlement conferences where appropriate and where resources permit;
  3. Adopting the Binding Judicial Dispute Resolution model of the Family Law Rules( Rule 43) for civil cases.
  4. The exceptions would be as follows(i) Cases on the Application Track, where it will remain discretionary, except in certain estates, trusts, and Substitute Decisions Act cases (as per the existing Rule 75.1);
    (ii) Cases where a mediation has already been conducted before the One-Year Scheduling Conference;
    (iii) Proceedings under the Construction Act or the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act;
    (iv) Proceedings under the Class Proceedings Act, except where certification is denied and a claim proceeds as a regular claim; and
    (v) Cases involving allegations of physical, mental, or emotional abuse, where it will remain discretionary.
  5. Update the  Mediator’s Roster by:(i) Establish a province-wide roster of mediators, enabled by virtual mediation, which eliminates geographic constraints and ensures consistent access to mediators across
    Ontario;
    (ii) Establish a task force to update the roster rates to reflect current market conditions; and
    (iii) Create continuing professional development standards for roster mediators for quality assurance purposes.

My Comments:

This is something that I and many others ( notably Jennifer Egsgard, Bernie Morrow,  Mitch Rose and the late Michael Silver ) have been working  on for over  20 years to bring about. We have held many meetings, conducted surveys, written reports, spoken to MAG, the OBA and countless others trying to convince them that the OMMP was such a  success that it should be expanded throughout the Province.

Now it looks like it will finally come true.

Better late than never.

The report is too large to load onto this page . This issue starts on page 161 of the Report.

I can send you a copy  if you email me at barry@barryfisher.ca