The broken fence was only the latest of many issues with Evangeline’s neighbour. A major barrier to solving the problem was that the owner lived abroad. But after several emails went unanswered, Evangeline went looking for help.
"On the City of Toronto’s website, I saw The Neighbourhood Group (TNG) as the organization the city uses to handle disputes between neighbours. I heard about TNG’s Community Mediation before because someone I know got a mediation training certificate from them some years ago. The answer to my problems was obvious.
“Thankfully, the owner agreed to mediation. My husband said we should focus on the fence instead of other past issues, but when we were meeting, the owner was angry about the other things and especially that we sent him a letter some years ago. Part of the reason why mediation works is that you have to listen to the other side and we did just that. We appreciated how straightforward the process was and that it helped us better understand each other.
“In the end, the owner agreed to pay half the fence cost. And we agreed to communicate by email, and WhatsApp for emergencies. We’re very happy with how things turned out.”
