Cruickshank v City Of Kingston

Ontario Superior Court defers "jurisdictional" objections based on limitation defence and non-adherence to pre-arbitration procedural steps to arbitral tribunal

Facts

The City of Kingston ("the City") contracted Cruickshank Construction ("Cruickshank") to perform construction services for the City. Under the construction contract, the parties agreed to resolve disputes through arbitration.

When a dispute arose, Cruickshank applied to the Court to appoint an arbitrator. In response, the City did not deny that there was a valid arbitration agreement between the parties. Rather, the City cross-applied asking the Court to determine that any arbitrator would lack jurisdiction due to its limitation defence and due to Cruickshank's alleged failure to comply with mandatory procedural pre-arbitration steps.