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Council Forum Minutes of Meeting - May 28, 1999

Present:

Eric Endicott Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Lorella Giliberti Hughes, Amys
Michael J. Gillen Schwarz, Gillen
Nestor Kostyniuk Kostyniuk, Greenside
Dawna Lange Financial Services Commission
Jan Mackintosh Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Nancy Makepeace Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Shonna Neil Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Shari Novick Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Stanley Pasternak Stanley Pasternak, Barrister & Solicitor
Frederika Rotter Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Elisabeth Sachs Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Claudia Storto Samis, Blouin, Dunn
Mary Sullivan Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Adam Wagman Thomson, Rogers
Catherine Zingg Flaherty, Dow Elliott

  1. Minutes approved as amended.

  2. Mediation - Shonna Neil
    • In March and April, pending mediations have begun to rise. There is an overall decline, however, and it is anticipated there will be in the vicinity of 8,000 applications for Mediation for 1999. There were approximately 10,000 applications for mediation in 1998.
    • The Unit is still trying to breakdown the "no jurisdiction" cases in the statistics.
    • There has been some reduction in staff and a sudden increase in mediations over the last two months. The Unit will be hiring some new contract mediators to deal with the backlog.

  3. Arbitration - Mary Jo Sullivan

    • The average age of decisions is down to 44 days as of today.
    • Pre-hearings are available 6 - 8 weeks after the response is due and hearing dates 3- 4 months after the pre-hearing.
    • F. Rotter says that the pre-hearing arbitrators are trying to schedule hearings at a time within the time frame recommended by the Adams Report, but usually they are not scheduled due to unavailability of counsel.
    • J. Mackintosh says that there has been an increase in adjournment requests, and mostly from backlogged cases.
    • The arbitration unit has been tracking adjournment requests and the effect of arbitrator intervention during the two weeks leading up to the hearing.

  4. Appeals & Judicial Review - E. Sachs

    • Appeals have fallen back a bit, but there is an increase in appeals from unrepresented persons.
    • Nancy Makepeace will be acting as an appeals officer in Susan Naylor's absence while in the Legal Branch for the next six months.
    • No statistics have been kept with respect to cases where the appeal has been rejected on the basis of not disclosing an issue of law, however, those numbers are small. Decisions are letter decisions only.
    • Nancy Makepeace reviewed recent decisions of the Divisional

  5. New Information Technology Initiatives - Mary Jo Sullivan

    • Files are now being put into .pfd format
    • The Internet database is being updated so that the list on the net will show additional information, such as, judicial review, by decision type (appeal, expense, preliminary, etc.). There is an upgrade to the database being planned, specifically with respect to this further information.
    • The net will also have, in the next few months, the availability of hearing and pre-hearing dates.
    • Searches will be upgraded, so that you can view the cases by type (e.g., preliminary, appeal, expenses, etc.)

  6. Educational Initiatives - Jan Mackintosh

    • Since the LSUC expressed an interest in doing the program and at multiple locations, it was felt by the Committee that it would be better to utilize the Law Society for their administrative assistance.
    • The suggested time frame for the conference is early Spring 2000

  7. DRPC Amendments - Jan Mackintosh

    The Commission would particularly like to receive the input of counsel forum in these areas:

    a) Applicants who have difficulties with some degree of mental incompetency;

    b) Offers to Settle - in the context of expenses of arbitration;

    c) Productions and follow up;

    d) Interim expenses;

    e) Amendments to the Forms.