From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: MAKING PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 08:23:07 GMT

The ACTivist July/August 92

The ACTivist is published monthly (one issue during July and August)
by the ACT for Disarmament Coalition, 736 Bathurst St., Toronto, 
Ontario, Canada, M5S 2R4, phone 416-531-6154, fax 416-531-5850,
e-mail web:act.

Reprint freely, but please credit us (and send us a copy!)

/** gen.newsletter: 121.16 **/
** Written 11:29 pm  Aug 11, 1992 by web:act in cdp:gen.newsletter **
MAKING PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

By Mary Hutchinson
The ACTivist

In the attempt to build a peaceful, non-violent society, much of 
the work must be done at the neighbourhood level. Only if we can 
build independent, community-based methods of conflict resolution 
between individuals, can we hope to create a larger society that 
operates by these same principles.

In a city such as Toronto, where people come from many different 
cultural backgrounds and tend not to live all their lives in the same
 neighbourhood, neighbours often ignore or barely tolerate each 
other. When somethings goes wrong -- for example, a new next-door
 neighbour practices the tuba for eight hours a day or puts up a 
fence annexing a few feet of someone else's property -- there is too 
much mistrust and not enough communication for them to fix the 
problem themselves. What is to be done then? If one takes the other 
to court, it will probably be expensive, certainly inconvenient, and 
they will probably dislike each other forever afterwards. 

Besides, the purpose of the court system is not so much to find the 
best solution for both parties as it is to find a winner and a loser. 
And the court system almost invariably favours those who have 
money for lawyers, and who belong to the same culture, race, 
class and sex as the judge and the people who invented the system.

What is needed is a service to help people understand and feel 
more comfortable with each other, so they can work together to 
solve their own problems.

St. Stephen's Community House offers such services free of charge 
to residents of Toronto. They rely on volunteer mediators whose
 backgrounds are matched as closely as possible with those of the 
disputants. The 67 volunteers speak 16 languages and represent 
24 different cultural backgrounds. 

This panel of sympathetic volunteers, different but cooperating 
with each other, sets a good example for the disputants. Last year, 
62% of St. Stephen's cases were between people from different 
racial or cultural backgrounds, and people from 33 different ethnic 
groups were served. This variety of viewpoints is probably the 
biggest advantage of such mediation services in enabling the 
disputants to communicate their concerns.

The first step in the mediation process involves visits to the 
homes of both disputants by volunteers from the community 
who are from similar backgrounds. All disputants have a chance 
to tell their stories in the privacy of their homes, at a time 
convenient for them. Of course, people feel much more at ease in 
familiar surroundings, and this gives them the feeling that the 
community cares. At this time, if they agree to try the mediation 
services, the process is explained to them so they will know what 
to expect.

The second step is a hearing in a neutral place in which each 
person has an opportunity to tell his or her side of the story to a 
panel of three volunteers. Then the disputing neighbours begin 
to speak directly to each other. The role of the panel is not to 
pass judgement but to help them identify the key issues and 
communicate them to each other. The panel aids them in 
brainstorming to come up with a solution, which must be agreed 
to by both parties. Mitra Ghalamain of St. Stephen's explains the 
advantages of this kind of conflict resolution:

"One advantage is that it is a win/win situation, rather than 
using the adversarial system where one or both loses. There are
 compromises but there are also situations where both get what 
they want. That is the ultimate goal of conflict resolution, but in 
reality people do realize that they must give something up."

When people come to their own solution they feel empowered, 
and if they do have to give something up they realize that it was 
their own decision and have an understanding of why it was 
necessary. They have also learned valuable communication skills 
which they might use in conflict situations in the future.

Most disputes are resolved in one or two sessions, very quickly 
compared to cases taken to court. Out of the cases in which both 
parties agree to follow the mediation process, 85 to 90% come to 
a successful agreement which is written out and signed by all. 
Usually a follow-up is done to make sure the agreement is 
working out.

More than half the conflicts mediated by St. Stephen's are 
neighbourhood disputes; the rest are landlord-tenant, 
intra-organizational and interpersonal. Interpersonal disputes 
involve friends, co-workers and siblings -- when the problem is 
very personal, as in most cases of couples or children and parents, 
it will be referred to a family therapist.

To raise funds for the free services, the Conflict Resolution 
Service at St. Stephen's offers seminars to government and 
non-profit organizations on mediation and other conflict 
management skills. These workshops range from 3 days to 
an hour and half long, and are designed to be relevant to the 
group being addressed.

This sort of community-based service is an example to other 
public programs. It represents the community rather than the 
ruling class, and reduces the need for policing and control-based 
programs. We need to cut down on unnecessary stress and 
intimidation and work for solutions which empower people to 
care about their neighbours and nieghbourhoods.


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