Neighbourhood Mediation in Edmonton |TODAY|

Submitted by dan. on 2007-09-21 21:15.
Public Education

To even mild-mannered citizens, there are days when Edmonton feels like a pressure-cooker with the lid ready to blow off. A boom economy, thousands of newcomers and a lack of housing lead to conflicts among neighbours living in increasingly cramped quarters.

“Any time you have a denser population, there’s more opportunity for people to be sensitive about what’s happening next door – and how it’s impacting them,” said Susan Logan, executive director of the Edmonton’s Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre. “It could be just about anything....”

Logan hosted an event at the Victoria Golf Club Thursday to publicize the centre’s Community Mediation Program. Funded by the city and the province, it maintains a roster of 40 trained volunteers – ready to provide free help to Edmontonians having trouble getting along. It’s a growing business that has come to include condo owners or homeowners who, for example, worry when something like a drop-in centre opens in their neighbourhood.

“This year we’ve already worked through 300 cases, and we don’t usually hit that number so soon,” Logan said.

Read it all.