Many people know that one of the reasons Mediations can be so successful is that anything said during the mediation is confidential, meaning that anything you say during the mediation cannot be used against you in court. You and the other party can admit facts and those admissions cannot be used against you later in court. The reasoning is that everyone will be more cooperative if the mediation discussions are voluntary and confidential.
But, if nothing in a mediation can be disclosed, what to do if a settlement deal is made at the end of the mediation and one of the parties has second thoughts and denies the deal?
On 20 December 2021 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) (see above a photo from SCC archives) issued its decision cited as 2021 SCC 54 which states that the settlement exception to mediation confidentiality, determined in a 2014 commercial case Union Carbide Canada Inc v Bombardier Inc., also applies to family cases.
Consequently, it remains true that confidentiality applies to mediations and you cannot disclose anything said during a mediation if a deal was not achieved. But if a deal was made then the confidentiality can be breached in order to prove the terms of the deal.
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