Canada Archives - Kluwer Arbitration Blog

Canada, Referral to Arbitration, Uber v. Heller, UNCITRAL Model Law

Canada’s Brick Wall Framework for Competence-Competence: Should Businesses Be Concerned About Canada’s Unique Method Of Referring Parties To Arbitration?

Robin M. Kelly (University of Ottawa)/May 29, 2025May 29, 2025 /Leave a comment

Competence-competence is fundamental to arbitration. It prevents costly and onerous court proceedings from frustrating the dispute resolution process. For competence-competence to be effective, courts must take a step back and generally stay court proceedings if the dispute is also subject to an arbitration agreement. Still, there are times when courts’ deferral to arbitrators to define…

Bias, Canada, Independence and Impartiality, NAFTA, Set aside an arbitral award

Is Arbitrator Bias Contagious? Single Arbitrator’s Bias in Unanimous Arbitral Award as A Ground for Setting Aside—Assessing the Settling Jurisprudence

Rakesh Sahu (Stockholm University)/April 25, 2025April 19, 2025 /Leave a comment

In a tribunal comprising three members, a unanimous arbitral award depicts the agreement of all members to the award. It has been argued that a single arbitrator’s bias in such a tribunal does not impact the integrity of the award as the outcome remains unaffected. Consequently, applications for setting aside arbitral awards on the grounds…

Bias, Canada, Independence and Impartiality, NAFTA, Set aside an international arbitral award

Vento Creates a Rule: If a Reasonable Apprehension of Bias is Established, an Award Must be Set Aside

Ruben Pinchas/April 24, 2025April 21, 2025 /Leave a comment

The Ontario Court of Appeal (“The Court”) has overturned the decision of an application judge who refused to set aside an arbitral award despite a finding of a reasonable apprehension of bias concerning one of the arbitrators. In doing so, the Court stated that when the objective test for bias is met, regarding even one…

2024 in Review, Canada, Disclosure, Impartiality, State Immunity

2024 in Review: Arbitration in Canada—Are “Impartiality” and “Immunity” the Words of the Year?

Dina Prokic (Senior Assistant Editor) (Woods LLP)/February 19, 2025February 19, 2025 /Leave a comment

Another trip around the Sun has brought a wealth of notable developments. Courts across Canada have addressed a multitude of issues, including challenges to arbitrators due to reasonable apprehension of bias (as previously discussed on this blog) or due to excess of jurisdiction (see commentary here), the distinctions between “awards” and other “decisions”, as well…

Canada, Enforcement, Investor-State arbitration, State Immunity

Quebec Court of Appeal Rules on State Immunity From Pre-judgment Enforcement Measures: Does This Open the Door for a “Double Waiver”?

Mees Brenninkmeijer (McGill University, Faculty of Law)/February 3, 2025January 30, 2025 /Leave a comment

In Republic of India v CCDM Holdings (2024 QCCA 1620), the Quebec Court of Appeal (“the Court”) recently confirmed that India had waived its immunity from enforcement and reinstated a pre-judgment attachment of State assets which a first instance decision had previously quashed. Given creditors’ perennial efforts to have their awards enforced against States that…