Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Canada Inc. (AMIC)
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Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Canada Inc. (AMIC) |
The Start:
In 1973, Arbitrations and Arbitrators, a Group, was established as the nucleus of an organization which would be competent to advise on the whole spectrum of personal and corporate disputes, and in finding qualified arbitrators who also have knowledge of the subject in dispute.
The following year, The Group obtained charter for the Arbitrator's Institute of Canada Inc. This institute was described as a public service, non profit, non-governmental organization. Its function was to provide the public with the means of resolving disputes of all kinds through arbitration, mediation and other voluntary methods, and to act as a national centre of information, education and research on dispute settlement.
The original group of a dozen men led by Lionel McGowan, who served as the first President and Executive Director for several years, set out with this vision. The Institute operated out of Toronto, but it included people from Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Vancouver.
International Recognition:
The early years were spent primarily in establishing recognition internationally, particularly by allying with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Great Britain, and the American Arbitration Association, both of whom recognized the Arbitrator's Institute of Canada as their counterpart in Canada. Mr. Bob Coulson, President of American Arbitration Association made several trips to Canada to speak at the Annual General Meeting. Likewise, Mr. Bernie Vigrass, Executive Director of the British Institute, visited Canada several times to give advice and to speak at the Annual General Meeting.
The early recognition resulted some years later in the two well attended Bermuda Conferences in the 1980's, at which the Arbitrator's Institute of Canada was one of the official sponsors, along with the American Arbitration Association, The Institute of Arbitration from Great Britain, and the Bermuda Law Society. After the second such international conference, interest in the Bermuda waned, partly because of a Bermuda law that forbid visitors from "doing work" which included conducting arbitrations, thus eliminating Bermuda as a potential site for arbitrations. Although there were intentions of having a third such international conference somewhere, it never came to be. All the players were too busy promoting dispute settlement methods in their respective countries.
Increasing Activity:
By this time most of the original group had retired through age. In 1979, W.E. (Bill) Hickey took over the reins as the Executive Director. The original office down on Richmond Street in Toronto was moved to the building at 234 Eglington Avenue East. The Ontario affiliate still is located in that building, although they have moved their office several times.
Training of Arbitrators was always an important activity of the Institute. The correspondence course was established, and also a lecture course was developed by Basil Orsini, which was given for several years at the University of Toronto. A comparable course in french was established in Montreal based on the Quebec Civil Code. As other provincial institutes came into being, they also established their own training courses for arbitrators. Notably, the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Ontario, the Institut d'Arbitrage du Québec, The Alberta Arbitration and Mediation Society, and the British Columbia Arbitration and Mediation Institute.
Reorganization of the National Office:
A key figure emerged from Québec in the person of Charles Laberge. As President and Executive Director of the Québec organization, Mr. Laberge always had a clear vision of the importance of the National Institute, and he stalwartly supported the national organization through many years, even when many of the people of his home province were thinking of separating from Canada. Throughout that "quiet revolution", Charles Laberge continued to lead his Québec group, and to support the national organization through its metamorphosis into the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Canada.
This big change began under the leadership of John Stikeman, originally of Montreal but moved to Toronto. Persuasive friends brought him into the institute where he served as a Director, and eventually as President. He recognized that if the Institute was to survive as a national organization, it needed to become more national in its makeup, and to provide focus for the various provincial affiliate organizations. At this time Jack Tuck had taken over as Executive Director, and it fell to him to keep the correspondence and records in order.
The turning point came when Bill Geddes of Edmonton, and the President of the Alberta Arbitration and Mediation Society agreed to attend the Annual Meeting of the Arbitrator's Institute of Canada in Toronto in 1985. Before and after the official Annual Meeting, there were several other meetings where John Stikeman invited Bill Geddes and some key leaders from Ontario and Québec to discuss a future role for the national Institute. Much enthusiasm was evident, but the message had to be spread to all parts of the country.
The following year, there was another series of meetings at the time of the Annual General Meeting in Toronto. Bill Geddes publicly expressed his appreciation for the evident good will that he had experienced in Toronto. Jim Denholm very ably represented British Columbia. Charles Laberge led the Québec delegation. G.N. (Jim) Kent was present from the Atlantic Provinces. Several people from Ontario including Norman Sherman, Hal Wilkinson, Wallace Beaton and Norm Richards, played an active part in this attempt to make the national organization truly national in scope.
Eventually the stage was set:
1. The National Office would become distinctly separate from the Ontario office including different address, personnel and staff. (Previously, due primarily to economic considerations, the Ontario office had also housed the national office, and there was a perception in the west that Ontario was trying to run everything.)
2. The National Board would consist of one representative from each regional affiliate, plus the President who was expected to take the lead nationally. Each region would nominate its own representative, who would be formally accepted at the Annual General Meeting of the Institute.
3. Each regional affiliate would collect a fee for the national organization from each member along with the regional fees. This fee would be the base source of income for the national office.
4. There would be a national Executive director (preferably bilingual) who would try to coordinate the national goals, and also the interaction between the regions.
Other matters were also settled. Then the time came to choose the new President as John Stikeman had announced that he wished now to retire. The Ontario Chairman, Norm Richards, nominated Bill Geddes, seconded by Charles Laberge of Québec. Instantly Bill Geddes was taken aback, and not sure what to say as the funding arrangement of the Alberta group with the province and the Alberta Law Society contained certain restrictions relating to the activities of the Society outside Alberta, and these needed to vetted. Once that hurdle was cleared, Bill Geddes became the first President of the truly national organization. Jack Tuck remained the Executive Director.
Coincidently the Ontario Institute had to be recognized, including details of distinction between national and Ontario functions many of which had become blurred, and that task was undertaken by H.J. (Hal) Wilkinson, who became the first President of the revised Ontario organization. Norm Sherman was another person who played a major role in this transformation, and he became the Executive Director for Ontario. The Ontario organization came to be named the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Ontario Inc. at this time.
Introduction of C. Arb. and C. Med.:
The major achievement of the national organization in this period was the C. Arb. (Chartered Arbitrator) designation which had been established in John Stikeman's time, but had yet to be fully defined. A national committee headed by John Denholm of B.C. and Richard Dillon of Ontario, developed the criteria for the designation. This was a carefully structured concept, and is still the basis of the C. Arb. Jim Denholm died the following year, and his influence was missed in the controversy that followed.
There was a need in B.C. to have a large number of C. Arb. people in short order, because the new B.C. Arbitration Centre in Vancouver had indicated that it wished to use the C.Arb. as the standard qualification for determining which persons were qualified to be on its list of arbitrators. Consequently, B.C. wanted to hand out C.Arb. designations with a minimum of screening, while the rest of the country wanted the screening process to be much more stringent in accordance with the guidelines set out in the C. Arb. criteria. The final draft of the C. Arb. Guidelines allowed the Provincial organizations to do their own screening for the first two years, and the disparity between the standards in B.C. compared to the rest of the country was evident. The fight for strong standards was led by Charles Laberge, who was then the President of AMIC, and he was strongly supported by Alberta in particular, as well as Québec and Ontario.
By this time the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Saskatchewan had joined the AMIC. During this period Len Weldon was the Executive Director, and the national Head Office was moved to Oakville Ontario. Don Andrews of B.C. became the next national President, but there were still rumblings from B.C. over the C.Arb. criteria.
A year later Hal Wilkinson of Ontario took over as national President. His emphasis was on the national nature of the organization, and he championed national concepts over regional concerns. During this period, B.C. came to terms with the national C.Arb. criteria, and went on to promote the criteria as strictly as the other regions.
The Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Manitoba Inc. joined AMIC. Likewise the long standing loose group of arbitrators in Halifax and St. John, N.B. were superseded by the formation of the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Nova Scotia, which later became the Atlantic Provinces Arbitration and Mediation Institute. Len Weldon retired as the national Executive Director, and he was replaced by F.G. (Jerry) Fox.
Reintroduction of the Journal Magazine
During the time Jerry Fox was Executive Director, the Institute became much more widely recognized. The Journal, which started as a small booklet in 1977, had dwindled to nothing during the formative years of the reorganized national AMIC due to lack of funds. Its importance was emphasized by Hal Wilkinson, and eventually a publisher was found to produce the Journal in magazine format with advertising to help defray the costs of publication. Jerry Fox served as the Editor.
Under Hal Wilkinson the C. Med. (Chartered Mediator) designation was officially established in the same way as the C. Arb. designation. A committee headed by Joanne Goss of Alberta, with representation from all regions, was set up to establish the criteria for the C. Med. designation. This turned out to be a considerable undertaking, with controversial comments from many quarters outside the institute, as well as significant arguments from within. Joanne Goss followed Hal Wilkinson as President, and during her time the criteria for the C. Med. designation were finalized.
Head Office Moves to Ottawa
The next President was Roman Evancic of B.C. When Jerry Fox announced that he wished to retire, Roman Evancic began the search for a new Executive Director, and also championed the moving of the head office to Ottawa. Eventually Robert Nelson, a practising lawyer with a large law firm, was selected as the Executive Director. All previous Executive Directors had been retired persons who took on the job of Executive Director as a part time occupation in their retirement.
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AMIM administrators note: Mr. Nelson left the position of Executive Director of AMIC in late 1997 or early 1998. Mr. Jim Pealow took over the reins and was the Executive Director until the end of 2001 when the national office, newly named ADR Institute of Canada, Inc. moved to Toronto. Ms. Judy Ballantyne is the current Executive Director.
