Given the long wait for small claims trial dates, the Quebec Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, plans to soon table a bill that will tackle the problem by focusing on mediation and arbitration, learned The duty.
The wait keeps getting longer in small claims, a division of the Court of Quebec that hears cases with a monetary value of $15,000 or less. Citizens represent themselves, without lawyers, for a host of claims ranging from unpaid renovation contracts to those directed against a seller who refuses to reimburse a defective television.
The Barreau du Québec has sounded the alarm on this subject on several occasions, including last fall. He noted with concern that the wait for a small claims trial was getting longer and longer, especially in certain judicial districts.
Quebec government data show an average period of 664 days — almost two years — between the filing of the claim and the date of trial. Another interval is then to be expected for obtaining the judgment that will settle the dispute. In September, the Bar recalled the case of a citizen who had waited more than three years before being able to go to small claims for an unpaid invoice.
The future bill aims to promote mediation and arbitration as strategies to relieve this division of the Court of Quebec, said a government source. It remains to be seen what concrete means will be used to achieve this objective. In particular, the government could follow up on one of the suggestions of the Barreau du Québec, namely that of making mediation mandatory.
Minister Jolin-Barrette gave the notice required for the tabling of a bill “aimed at improving the efficiency and accessibility of justice, in particular by promoting mediation and arbitration and by simplifying civil procedure at the Court of Québec”, as indicated in the Order Paper of the National Assembly.
Free mediation already exists in small claims, but not arbitration.
About 13% of cases filed with the Small Claims Division went to mediation in 2021-2022. In recent years, between 56% and 60% of cases that have passed through the hands of a mediator have been settled by this process, according to the most recent annual management report of the ministry, that is for the year 2021-2022. This document also indicates that mediation makes it possible to close a file more quickly than the regular process with trial and judgment: the median interval is 238 days, compared to 512. The ministry specifies, however, that the slowdown in judicial activities linked to the state of health emergency had repercussions until the year 2021-2022.