Couples who are now separating and who hope to benefit from the three to five hours of free mediation offered by the government (depending on whether they have children or not) may face an additional difficulty. Will they find a professional ready to accept their file?
This program of a few free hours of family mediation services is very popular in Quebec. In 2021-2022, 16,878 couples used it, according to data from the Ministry of Justice.
However, the Association of Family Mediators of Quebec (AMFQ) currently recommends that its members stop offering mediation offered free of charge by the government and bill their own fees.
It is that under the government program – whose objective is to prevent exes from tearing themselves apart in court and clogging up the courts – family mediators are paid $110 an hour, which they consider largely insufficient.
Me Claudine Cusson, president of the Association of Family Mediators of Quebec, insists: it is essential that family mediation “be accessible to the most deprived”, especially insofar as she says she has observed, at least in her practice, that “couples separate more and more when the children are in elementary school or even preschool”.
But in her opinion, the $110 that is given to family mediators under this program is such a low rate – compared, among other things, to the usual fees of lawyers – that many of them are abandoning the profession, in an exodus that she was not able to quantify, however.
The price to pay “to help others”
In addition to lawyers, notaries, guidance counsellors, psychoeducators, psychologists and social workers (and marriage or family therapists) can also be accredited as mediators. Touring the six professional orders, Ms.e Cusson calculates that there are only 600 left in Quebec, and not 1,100 as the Department of Justice claims.
And, verification made, even using the list of the Association of Family Mediators, The Press came across many of them who told us that they were no longer accepting new clients because they were about to retire or because they were no longer taking cases.
Me Sophie Bérubé, who was a mediator for seven years, for her part replied “having taken a break”. First attracted by the concept of public service and proud of “having avoided the courts for hundreds of couples”, she says that she comes out of it “more tired and less rich”.
The price to pay “to help others” is now too high, she adds.
Since a day in court costs the state a fortune—the judges’ annual salary of more than $300,000 being only part of the cost—Mr.e Bérubé argues that the government would do well to update its fees for family mediators, which save it so much in court cases.
Me Cusson also points out that the fees for family mediators are not $110 an hour for the first three to five hours only. It’s rare that everything settles down during the five free hours, she points out, and couples then have to pay the $110 an hour themselves. If they need four, five or ten more sessions, the mediators who have accepted their file cannot ask for more than these fees.
She points out that $110 may seem like a lot of money from the outside, but that’s far from the case with the overall fees lawyers have to pay.
Questioned by The Pressthe Barreau du Québec says that it fully shares “the concerns of mediators regarding the underfunding of Quebec justice”.
“Insufficient tariffs inevitably lead to problems of access to justice. »
What would be appropriate fees?
Justine Gravel, political adviser in the office of Simon Jolin-Barrette, Minister of Justice, writes to us that Quebec is sensitive “to the requests of mediators and that is why we plan to raise the mediation fee to $130”.
We must not forget that once the free sessions are over, the overtime must be assumed by the citizens. The objective is to promote the profession while ensuring access to mediation services for citizens.
Justine Gravel, political adviser in the office of the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette
Mme Gravel added that “discussions about this file will not take place in the public square”.
Note that it is The Press who contacted the Association of Family Mediators to find out if the problem was being resolved, the free mediation program being very popular.
Will the $130 now proposed by the Legault government be enough for the mediators and will they make them lift the recommendation to refuse mandates covered by the government? Me Cusson replies that it is up to each of its members to follow the recommendation or not.
In 2019, she said, members of the Association of Family Mediators responded to an internal survey that they thought $150 to $200 an hour would be enough. It’s been four years since then, said Ms.e Cusson, noting that there has been an increase in the cost of living since then.
According to her, the time would also have come to see if the universal character of the free mediation program (combined with hours at low cost afterwards) – is still relevant or if the State should not refrain from also financing the mediation of ultra-rich couples.