APPENDIX C: CHARACTERISTICS OF JUDICIAL MEDIATION IN QUEBEC’S COURT OF APPEAL Excerpted from: The Honourable J.J. Michel Robert, Chief Justice of Quebec, “The New Extended Role of the Courts in Canada,” a presentation  delivered at the Association of Canadian Court Administrators Spring Learning Conference on Public Confidence in Fair and Impartial Courts, March 29-31, 2004. 1. Consensual Process • Mediation is not imposed • may be suggested by the court • but must be accepted by all parties 2. Active role of the parties • The parties are not passive • they play an active role • in defining the solution suitable for them 3. Mediator is a judge • but he does not act as a judge • he does not impose his solution • he does not state the law except at the request of the parties • may give non binding opinions and may make suggestions 4. Role of the Judge Mediator – principal role: facilitator – bring the parties to an acceptable solution • defined by them and • acceptable to them • in other words bring the parties together 5. Rights of the parties accepting the judicial mediation – If mediation fails • the parties do not loose their right to have their conflict resolved by adjudication in the usual delay (no loss of time) • by another judge than the mediator judge   6. The parties themselves must be present with or without their lawyers at their choice