Arbitration is a private trial that you pay for. You choose the decision-maker, you set the timetable, and the award binds you almost as firmly as a judgment. What you give up is a free right of appeal, and often the assumption that it will cost less than court.
Our charges include applicable taxes. Disbursements are extra and billed at cost — itemized upfront, in writing, never hidden.
From $450.87 taxes included
Domestic arbitrations in Ontario run under the Arbitration Act, 1991. Where the dispute is international and commercial, the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017 applies instead, adopting the UNCITRAL Model Law and the New York Convention so that an Ontario award can be enforced abroad and foreign awards enforced here.
If your contract contains an arbitration clause and the other side sues you in court anyway, the usual response is a motion to stay the court action. The court will generally grant it. Bring that motion early — taking substantive steps in the lawsuit can be treated as giving up the right to arbitrate.
There are limits on who can be bound. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, an arbitration clause in a consumer agreement does not prevent a consumer from going to court or joining a class action. Employment and other standard-form clauses have also been struck down where the process was, in practical terms, inaccessible to the person expected to use it.
You pick the tribunal: one arbitrator is normal for smaller disputes, three for large commercial ones. If the parties cannot agree, the court will appoint. Choosing someone with the right technical background — construction, shareholder disputes, insurance — is the biggest single advantage over a randomly assigned judge.
You also pick the procedure. It can be a documents-only determination, a short hearing with limited discovery, or something close to a full trial. Agreeing the procedure and a budget at the first conference is where the cost of arbitration is really decided.
The arbitrator can order production of documents, can order interim measures such as preserving property, and issues a written award with reasons. Once the award is made, the court will enforce it on application, after which it is enforced in the same way as any judgment.
The timetable is the thing people underestimate. A civil action in Ontario can wait years for a trial date. An arbitration is scheduled when the parties and the arbitrator are free.
This is the trade. Where the arbitration agreement says nothing about appeals, a party may appeal to the court on a question of law only with leave, and leave is granted only where the matters at stake justify it and the answer will significantly affect the parties' rights. Questions of fact, and mixed questions, generally cannot be appealed at all unless the agreement says so.
Separately from appeals, an award can be set aside on narrow grounds: the agreement was invalid, the arbitrator exceeded their jurisdiction, a party was not treated fairly or was not given a chance to present its case, or the arbitrator was not impartial. "The arbitrator got it wrong" is not on that list.
The moment to decide your appeal rights is when the contract is drafted, not when the award lands. A clause can expressly permit appeals on questions of law, fact and mixed law and fact, or bar them entirely. Most standard clauses do neither and simply inherit the default.
Family arbitration is separately regulated under the Family Law Act, and the rules are strict because the stakes are personal. The arbitration must be conducted in accordance with the law of Ontario or another Canadian jurisdiction. An award made under a different legal or religious system is not enforceable as a family arbitration award.
Before arbitrating, each party needs independent legal advice and financial disclosure, the agreement must be in writing, and the arbitrator must have the prescribed training and must screen the parties for power imbalance and domestic violence. Skip any of that and the award may be unenforceable.
Separation agreements often include a secondary arbitration clause so that later disputes — a change in a parenting schedule, a support adjustment — go back to the same arbitrator rather than starting a fresh court application. For families who want privacy and speed, that is the main attraction.
Not automatically. You pay the arbitrator's time, the hearing venue and any administrative fees, all of which a court provides at no charge. What you buy is speed, privacy, and a decision-maker who understands the subject. On a document-heavy commercial dispute that often nets out cheaper; on a small claim it rarely does.
Only as your agreement allows. If it is silent, you may seek leave to appeal on a question of law, and leave is not readily given. A separate application to set the award aside exists but is limited to jurisdictional and procedural failures, not to the arbitrator being wrong on the merits.
Yes. On application the court enforces the award, and from that point you use the ordinary enforcement tools — writs, garnishment and the rest. Foreign awards are enforced in Ontario through the New York Convention framework, and Ontario awards abroad the same way.
If you are a consumer, generally no. The Consumer Protection Act, 2002 prevents an arbitration clause from barring a consumer from court or from a class action. Outside consumer transactions, clauses are usually enforced, though a clause that makes the process practically inaccessible can be struck down.
Yes. There is no public court file, no public hearing and, unless a party goes to court over the award, nothing on the record. For shareholder disputes, partnership breakups and sensitive commercial matters, privacy is often the whole reason for choosing it.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.