In our August 1996 Task Force on Systems of Civil Justice report to the Canadian Bar Association one of our primary recommendations was to encourage early and continuing nonbinding dispute resolution to assist in achieving settlements as early as possible in the litigation process. The report stated at page 32, "The Task Force is persuaded that a focus on early consensual resolution of disputes holds the greatest promise for reducing costs and delays" and, as we made clear in our first recommendation, we wanted every jurisdiction to make available "opportunities for litigants to use non-binding dispute resolutions processes as early as possible in the litigation process."

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