Before October 3, 2022, the rules of procedure in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal (unlike those in most other appeal courts in Canada) imposed a stay of proceedings in most cases as soon as a Notice of Appeal was served and filed. That has now changed.

Good evening.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of September 26, 2022.

The “fresh start” principle is a long-standing objective of Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (the “BIA“) that aims assist honest but unfortunate debtors by discharging debts owed to creditors. However, in the recent decision Poonian (Re), 2022 BCCA 274, the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled that sanctions imposed by the British Columbia Securities (the “Commission“) in respect of fraud related misconduct will survive any discharge under the BIA.

A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal invalidated an arbitration and forum selection clause in a commercial agreement in favour of having a dispute between the debtor and its former customer adjudicated within a receivership proceeding.

Good afternoon.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of September 12, 2022.

In Optiva Inc. v. Tbaytel, the Court dismissed the appeal from an arbitrator’s decision granting summary judgment. The arbitrator had the authority to proceed by summary judgment motion, as the arbitration agreement gave the arbitrator broad powers to determine the procedure to be employed.

L’arbitrage est un mode consensuel de résolution des différends qui permet aux parties de personnaliser leur processus et même de choisir leur propre décideur. L’insolvabilité est le scénario diamétralement opposé, dans lequel les différends concernant le débiteur sont involontairement regroupés devant un seul tribunal d’insolvabilité.

Arbitration is a consensual method of dispute resolution in which the parties can customize their process and even select their own decision-maker. Insolvency is the diametrically opposite scenario, where disputes involving the debtor are involuntarily consolidated before a single insolvency court.

In the receivership proceedings of Distinct Infrastructure Group Inc.

A bankruptcy discharge releases the debtor from pre-bankruptcy debts or liabilities. The purpose is to give the debtor a “fresh start” from excessive debts that cannot be repaid, except in certain situations such as where the debt arises from deceitful or fraudulent conduct. In Poonian v. British Columbia (Securities Commission), the British Columbia Court of Appeal held that securities sanctions are excluded from bankruptcy discharge.

Good afternoon.

Following are this week’s summaries of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of August 22, 2022.

In Mundo Media Ltd. (Re), the Court refused leave to appeal in a bankruptcy case where a debtor of the bankrupt sought to stay the bankruptcy proceeding in favour of international arbitration. The single proceeding model permits a bankruptcy court to override arbitration agreements.