When Will Ontario Courts Set Aside An International Arbitral Award? Lessons From Burr And Grace

Ontario courts continue to emphasize that challenges to international arbitral awards face a high bar. Recent decisions demonstrate that while courts will not permit parties to re-litigate the merits of an arbitration through a set-aside application, they remain willing to scrutinize challenges involving jurisdictional issues or concerns about the integrity of the arbitral process.

Two recent Ontario decisions, Mexico v. BurrandGrace v. Mexico, involving treaty claims against the United Mexican States (“Mexico”), illustrate how Ontario courts are exercising their supervisory role under the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017, which implements the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law.

While the outcomes in the cases differed—in Burr, the Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision refusing set-aside, while in Grace the Superior Court set aside the underlying award—together the decisions provide practical guidance on the narrow circumstances in which Ontario courts will intervene in