Timothy Hughes, Author at Arbitration Matters

March 11, 2026March 11, 2026

Northwest Territories – Peace River Analogized in Oppression-Driven Disclaimer of Arbitration – #938

In TSA CORPORATION et al v KPMG LLP, 2026 NWTSC 2, the Court approved a Receiver’s request to disclaim arbitration agreements between companies in receivership (the “LKDFN Companies”) and KPMG, which the LKDFN Companies’ former CEO had engaged to provide accounting services and tax advice. The Receiver had been appointed to facilitate the LKDFN Companies’ recovery from oppression at the hands of their former CEO. Relevant statutes, and the Receiver’s appointment order, authorized a broad range of potential remedies, expressly including the power to disclaim contracts with third parties. Reasoning by analogy to Peace River Hydro Partners v. Petrowest Corp., 2022 SCC 41, the Court approved the Receiver’s request because “not doing so would compromise the fair and orderly correction” of “a scenario of exploitation, unfairness, and the obliteration of autonomy.” The Receiver’s disclaimer rendered arbitration agreements between the LKDFN Companies and KPMG unenforceable under the Arbitration Act, SNWT 2022, c 14. As a result, the Court denied KPMG’s application to stay derivative actions brought against it.

The social context of this case was key. The LKDFN Companies’ former CEO had “knowingly breached his fiduciary duties to the LKDFN Companies, including failing to disclose his own interests, which were significant, and he caused them to enter into agreements, transactions, and governance structures which were unfair and prejudicial.” The LKDFN Companies had been organized to serve economic and other needs of the First Nation, infusing this case with the “special social context attendant to the exploitation of a vulnerable indigenous group.” This context situated the case in the process of truth and reconciliation with Canada’s First Nations, including the interpretive lens of federal and territorial legislation implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

Timothy Reflects (2025) – The (Sometimes) Long Tail of Disclosure Disputes – #928

Document production is a third rail to many arbitration practitioners, and not a likely topic for an annual reflection blog! The risk of provoking memories (possibly distant, but still visceral) of sifting through dusty boxes or their digital equivalent may be, for many potential commentators, too great. Privilege logs, relevance, and redactions, oh my!

July 3, 2025July 4, 2025

Alberta – Court enforces med/arb consent award over bias objection – #910

In Heine v Worsfold, 2025 ABKB 307, the court enforced a consent award rendered in a family dispute over objections that the arbitrator – who had also mediated the parties’ settlement – had demonstrated bias against the Applicant in the mediation. While the case raised a plethora of other issues, at the core were allegations about the mediator/arbitrator’s conduct in the mediation process.

February 7, 2025February 10, 2025

Alberta – Court rejects Ontario approach to stays of enforcement – #892

In Inter Pipeline Ltd v Teine Energy Ltd, 2024 ABKB 740 (“Inter Pipeline”), the Court set out the three-part test a party must meet to obtain a stay of enforcement of a domestic arbitration award in Alberta, rejecting as “not principled” the two-part test that applies in Ontario. The Court also addressed the argument that refusing a sealing order in these circumstances would put a chill on challenges to arbitral awards.

November 20, 2024November 15, 2024

Ontario – Court endorses pre-hearing disclosure from non-parties to assist arbitration – #876

In Royal and Sunalliance Insurance v Ontario Provincial Police, 2024 ONSC 5505, the Court interpreted section 29(4) of Ontario’s Arbitration Act, 1991 (the “Act”) to allow courts to order non-party disclosure before an arbitration hearing. Section 29(4) states, “[o]n the application of a party or of the arbitral tribunal, the court may make orders and give directions with respect to the taking of evidence for an arbitration as if it were a court proceeding.” The Court’s order permits pre-hearing “discovery” of a non-party to the arbitration, as opposed to the taking of evidence at a hearing. The case sets out some considerations that may be relevant to future applications under this provision of the Act. This case highlights the need for parties seeking non-party disclosure in arbitration to carefully review the applicable legislation and frame requests for Court assistance accordingly.

August 29, 2024September 3, 2024

Nova Scotia – Court orders stay in favour of arbitration – but with conditions – #858

In Colbourne Chrysler Dodge Ram Ltd., v. MacDonald et al. v Colbourne, MacDougall, and Denny, 2024 NSSC 204, the Court stayed an action in favour of arbitration. Of interest to readers of this blog, the stay was made “subject to the parties moving forward in an efficient and expeditious manner” with the arbitration. The Court also ordered the arbitrator – notwithstanding that none had been appointed – to “in the first instance, determine any jurisdiction issues and/or defences which may be raised in connection with the claims made against [certain parties which were not signatories to the arbitration agreement].”

June 5, 2024May 30, 2024

Ontario – International award enforced despite respondent’s non-participation – #839

Medivolve Inc. v. JSC Chukotka Mining and Geological Company, 2024 ONSC 2200, the Court refused Medivolve’s application to set aside an international arbitration award issued by a Moscow-seated tribunal, instead granting Chukotka’s application to recognize and enforce the award. Medivolve failed to appear at the arbitration and claimed that it had not been given proper notice or an opportunity to be heard. The Court found that Medivolve had proper notice of the arbitration within the meaning of Art. 36(1)(a)(ii) of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the “Model Law”). It had received actual notice, by email, of the pendency and status of the arbitration well before the award was rendered even though it changed offices (without notifying the opposing party).

March 27, 2024April 1, 2024

Ontario – Affidavits of “reasonable and informed persons” inadmissible in bias challenge – #824

In The Law Society of British Columbia and Valerie Frances Hemminger, 2024 LSBC 7, a hearing panel of the Law Society of British Columbia Tribunal refused to admit twelve affidavits offered to support the Respondent’s allegation of a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the panel. The panel found the affidavits were inadmissible primarily because the “reasonable and informed person” part of the test for reasonable apprehension of bias is an objective legal fiction, not informed by a subjective person whose views may be assessed by evidence and then applied by a decision maker. Accordingly, the affidavits – which offered the opinions of self-professed “reasonable” people about the implications of procedural decisions at the heart of the Respondent’s challenge – were inadmissible.

January 17, 2024April 30, 2024

Timothy Reflects (2023): Are arbitral tribunals soft targets for bad actors? – #809

This case note reflects on emerging procedural and systemic vulnerabilities of arbitration, a timely and important topic in light of the recent decision of the High Court of England and Wales in Process & Industrial Development v Federal Republic of Nigeria, [2023] EWHC 2638 (Comm) (“P&ID v Nigeria”). In that case, Justice Robin Knowles remarked:

November 20, 2023November 17, 2023

Quebec – Streamlined procedures do not deny party’s ability to its present case – #792

In Gagnon c. Truchon, 2023 QCCA 1053, the Quebec Court of Appeal declined leave to appeal the Superior Court’s earlier decision to dismiss an application to annul an award and instead to enforce it. The Court of Appeal concluded that the Applicants had failed to establish “questions of principle” arising out of a “purement privé” fee dispute between the Applicants and their former lawyer. After failing to object to streamlined procedures selected by the Arbitration Council appointed by the Bureau du Québec, the Applicants could not later complain that they were denied the opportunity to present their case.