My experience with this was back in B.C., and it compared to what's happening in Nova Scotia with the recommendations.
When matters reached the stage where it went to adjudication, there was a wall between the informal mediation and the adjudication. It was quite formal relative to recommendation-making. Parties tended to be represented by lawyers. They provided witness submissions. There was an exchange of submissions. The hearings generally, though, almost exclusively, were in writing before a single adjudicator, but it required the B.C. office to have a group of adjudicators separate from the rest of the staff who conducted these hearings and issued written reports.
On the recommendations in my jurisdiction now, what happens is that there is no separation between the initial informal resolution process and the recommendation reports that I write, so parties don't need to have a lawyer but the quality of the submissions then is reflected in that they are not generally that strong and there's a lack of evidence. It's quite a challenge to write these recommendations.