14 | LEXPERT • June 2018 | www.lexpert.ca/usguide
enforce arbitral awards on a reciprocal basis
with other contracting states.
The United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)'s
Model Law on International Commercial
Arbitration complements the Convention.
It is an archetype law that can be adopted
domestically by states in order to harmonize
legal regimes governing International Com-
mercial Arbitration across jurisdictions.
Under the Model Law, says Pierre
Dalphond, of Stikeman Elliott LLP in
Montréal and a former senior judge of the
Québec Court of Appeal, "International
Commercial Arbitration is a completely
independent system.
"The final award cannot be reviewed by
a court of law on either a question of law
or of fact. There are very limited grounds
pursuant to which you can have an
As a multicultural,
bilingual nation with
civil and common-law
jurisdictions, Canada
should be a natural hub
for International Arbitration.
Recent provincial amend-
ments aim to make it so
By Sheldon Gordon
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL
ARBITRATION HARMONY
Dispute Resolution
For most large companies involved in
cross-border contracts, International
Commercial Arbitration is the preferred
means of dispute resolution, due to the cer-
tainty that arbitration agreements will be
respected by domestic courts and awards
will be enforceable.
With the exceptions of Ontario and
Québec, however, the Canadian provinces
have arguably failed to keep their statutes
relating to International Commercial Ar-
bitration up to date compared to other ju-
risdictions that companies might choose.
The key legal instrument is the New York
Convention on the Recognition and En-
forcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, to
which Canada has been a party since 1986.
The Convention requires that contract-
ing states give effect to private agreements
to arbitrate disputes, and to recognize and
