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Family mediators also train the most frequently.
q 
Most trainer-practitioners are self-employed.
q 
Community mediators are the exception as close to half of them work
as salaried employees.
Most of the respondents in this study work full time (83%), however,
mediation does not comprise all of their activities. While almost everyone
(95%) mediated within three months of completing the study questionnaire,
less than one-quarter (20%) work as mediators on a full-time basis. In fact,
almost half (45%) spend less than twenty-five (25%) percent of their time
mediating. This figure is similar to the Kruk study, which found that Canadian
family mediators spend only one-third of their time mediating (1998:12).
Respondents spend even less time training. Two-thirds (63%) spend
less than one-quarter of their time working as trainers. Only fourteen (14%)
percent spend more than half of their paid time as mediation trainers.
Seventy (70%) percent delivered fewer than ten courses in a two-year period.

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Family trainer-practitioners mediate the most often (Table 12). This
should not be surprising given that as an occupational sector they are more
organized than any other sector. The formation of Family Mediation
Canada
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in 1985 helped to promote the use of mediation in a family context.
The passing of many provincial and federal laws supporting the use of
mediation has also helped family mediation flourish. The majority of
mediators in the community, business and workplace sectors mediate less
than five times per month.
Table 12. Monthly Mediations and Dispute Sector
COMMUNITY
FAMILY
BUSINESS
WORKPLACE
Total
Less than 5
times a month
80% (16)
41% (9)
72% (18)
63% (10)
64% (53)
6-10 times a
month
15% (3)
14% (3)
20% (5)
25% (4)
18% (15)
11-15 times a
month
5% (1)
23% (5)
8% (2)
13% (2)
12% (10)
16-20 times a
month
9% (2)
2% (2)
More than 20
times per month
14% (3)
4% (3)
TOTAL
100% (20)
100% (22)
100% (25)
100% (16)
100% (83)
83 valid cases; 5 missing cases
Source: C. Picard, A Survey of Mediation in Canada, 1998
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Family Mediation Canada is an interdisciplinary association of lawyers, social workers, human
services and health care professionals working together to provide for cooperative conflict resolution
relating to separation, divorce, and other family conflict situations. Today all provinces and territories
have provincial mediation associations.

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A similar pattern, albeit more muted, occurs when the number of
training courses delivered over the past two years is cross-tabulated with the
dispute sector in which they are most active. Once again, family mediation
trainer-practitioners train the most often - thirty-nine (39%) percent of the
sample have trained ten or more times during a two-year period. They are
followed closely by trainers in the community sector as one-third (33%) also
delivered ten or more courses, whereas only one quarter of the workplace
(27%) and business (25%) sectors delivered the same number of courses.
The majority of mediation trainer-practitioners in the study group are
self-employed (66%). Fewer than twenty percent (19%) of respondents who
work full-time are salaried employees. Being self-employed is particularly
true if respondents work in the business sector as three-quarters (77%) work
for themselves. Similarly, family mediation trainer-practitioners are self-
employed either on a full-time (55%) or part-time (14%) basis. Sector
difference is most noticeable when respondents work in the community sector
- almost one half of respondents (46%) are full-time salaried employees.
There is also a greater likelihood that respondents with a social science
background (31%) will work for someone else than those with a background
in law (8%) or business (0%). Fewer women (45%) than men (63%) are full-
time self-employed trainer-practitioners.

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