Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson has signalled his intention to get family mediation training off the ground.
He made the announcement on Monday, following a brief ceremony at the Supreme Court Complex to hand over 54 laptops, which were provided by the Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST).
Sir Marston said the JURIST Project stands ready to assist with the training, and explained that family mediation required a lot more psychological involvement, as well as ensuring that persons were treated firmly but in a kind way, and the training for family mediation differed from commercial mediation.
Sir Marston disclosed that through the JURIST Project, all court staff were currently undergoing training in client service, service standards and statistics in the court registry.
“We understand, but not fully, the need for statistics as a developmental tool and what JURIST is helping us to do, is to see statistics as a tool of development … not just numbers.”
The Chief Justice expressed appreciation to the Canadian Government and other agencies for their support of the judiciary.
“Throughout all of the changes, the Government of Canada has remained a steadfast partner of the judiciary of Barbados and has been unstinting in its willingness to help us with quite a lot,” Sir Marston stated.