Grigoras Law's Toronto arbitration lawyers built this page for the party who has just received an award and must decide, within weeks, whether to challenge it, and for the party who holds the award and wants to know when it can be enforced. It is general information, computed in your browser from the dates you enter under the Arbitration Act, 1991, the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017, the Legislation Act, 2006 and the Rules of Civil Procedure. It does not say whether an appeal or an application would succeed, and it is not legal advice; confirm the dates with a lawyer you have retained before relying on them.
Every period here runs from receipt, which is the day the award, the correction or the notice of the ruling reached the party or its lawyer, and not the date printed on the document. Periods under the two Acts are counted under the Legislation Act, 2006, which moves a last day that falls on a Sunday or a holiday and, where the step is taken by filing in the court office, a last day on which the office is closed, Saturday included; the periods for a leave motion or a notice of appeal are counted under the Rules of Civil Procedure.
Enter the day you received the award and the dates appear here, each with the provision it comes from and the count behind it. Where a last day falls on a Sunday, a holiday or a day the court office is closed, the page shows the day by the count and the day the rule extends it to, and it tells you which rule it applied.
Receipt, not the date on the award. Every period runs from the day the party received the award, correction, explanation, change or statement of reasons on which the appeal or application is based (s. 47(1)), or the day it received the award (art. 34(3)). Keep the delivery e-mail or the courier record; the dates above assume the day you entered is that day.
No extension. The Court of Appeal has held that the court has no discretion to extend the thirty (30) days in s. 47(1), because the Act makes no provision for one, s. 50(3) makes the award final once the period has elapsed, and the one provision that does relax a time limit, s. 39, is confined to the time for making the award (R & G Draper Farms (Keswick) Ltd. v. 1758691 Ontario Inc., 2014 ONCA 278, at ¶¶ 18-21; Campbell v. Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 2600, 2024 ONCA 218, at ¶ 48). Rule 3.02 extends time under the Rules, not under the Act.
The fraud exception is narrow. The thirty (30) days do not apply where the applicant alleges corruption or fraud (s. 47(2)), but "fraud" there means fraud and does not include constructive fraud (Campbell, at ¶ 55), and an applicant who pleads fraud to escape the period must be able to prove it.
The agreement may say otherwise. Section 3 lets the parties vary or exclude any provision of the Act other than those it lists, and s. 47 is not on the list, so an arbitration agreement or the institutional rules it adopts may set a different period for an appeal; the provisions on setting aside, declarations of invalidity and enforcement (ss. 46, 48 and 50) cannot be varied. The page applies the Act's periods.
A correction does not restart the clock for everything. The thirty (30) days run from receipt of the document "on which the appeal or application is based" (s. 47(1)). An application based on the original award runs from receipt of the award; only an application based on the correction, explanation, change or statement of reasons runs from receipt of that document. A request under s. 44 does not suspend the period for challenging the award itself.
The three (3) months and article 33. Under art. 34(3) the period runs from receipt of the award or, if a request was made under article 33 (correction, interpretation or additional award), from the day the tribunal disposed of that request, so a timely article 33 request moves the start of the period; the page uses the later date you entered as the disposal date. Setting aside under art. 34 is the only recourse against an international award (art. 34(1)); there is no appeal on the merits.
Which Act applies. The International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017 applies to an international commercial arbitration within art. 1(3) of the Model Law; the Arbitration Act, 1991 applies to every other arbitration under an arbitration agreement (s. 2(1)). The two periods differ by two (2) months, and the court applies the Act that governs rather than the one the party assumed (R & G Draper Farms).
Sundays, holidays and Saturdays. A statutory period that ends on a Sunday or a holiday listed in s. 88 of the Legislation Act, 2006 runs to the next day that is not one (s. 89(1)); Saturday is not a holiday under that Act. A period that is met by filing or issuing a document in the court office, including the appeal or application under s. 47, the s. 17(8) application, the enforcement application and the applications under arts. 16(3) and 34 of the Model Law, is extended under s. 89(2) when it ends on a day the office is closed, Saturday, the Civic Holiday and the observed days included, to the next day the office is open (Kapularic v. Longphee (1990), 42 C.P.C. (2d) 313 (Ont. H.C.J.), at ¶¶ 12-17; Ashford v. Johnson, 2014 ONSC 5825 (Div. Ct.), at ¶¶ 18-20); a document submitted through the online portals is issued on the date in the registrar's confirmation (rules 4.05.2(9) and 4.05.2.1(5)), so the portal does not make Saturday a filing day. A request made to the tribunal under s. 44, s. 54(3) or art. 33 is not made in an office, so a Saturday last day is flagged and not moved. A period under the Rules of Civil Procedure (the leave motion, the notice of appeal, the filing) uses the definition in rule 1.03, under which Saturday and the Civic Holiday are holidays, and a period of seven (7) days or less is counted without holidays (rule 3.01(1)(b)). The page computes the holidays of every year by rule. It cannot know a day fixed as a holiday by proclamation of the Governor General or the Lieutenant Governor (s. 88(2), para. 12; rule 1.03). No official list of such days exists; a proclamation would be published in The Ontario Gazette or the Canada Gazette, and none has been made in recent years (for September 19, 2022, the day of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, the federal proclamation asked Canadians to set the day aside, and Ontario declared a day of mourning rather than a holiday). Nor can it know a day the courts close without a holiday. Since 2021 the Ontario courts have closed their counters on September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, or on the following Monday when it falls on a weekend, under a yearly statement of the three Chief Justices, and a courthouse can close for weather or another emergency. Under s. 89(2) of the Legislation Act, 2006, a time limit that expires on a day the place for filing is not open during its regular hours runs to the next day it is open, but September 30 is not a holiday under s. 88 of that Act or rule 1.03 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, and the online portals stay open, so where a date on this page falls on it, act before it. The courts post their notices at ontariocourts.ca.
What the page does not compute. The limitation period for the underlying claim, which s. 52(1) applies to an arbitration as if it were an action; the time for an application for a declaration of invalidity under s. 48, which the Act does not limit; the time for an appeal where the award is a family arbitration award; and the time for recognition of a foreign award under the New York Convention beyond the ten (10) years in s. 10 of the ICAA.
The Arbitration Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 17, and the International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 2, Sched. 5, with the Model Law in its Schedule 2, as consolidated on e-Laws and current to October 21, 2026, with the rules of court the calculator applies.
Time limit for appeal or application, s. 47(1) An appeal of an award or an application to set aside an award shall be commenced within thirty days after the appellant or applicant receives the award, correction, explanation, change or statement of reasons on which the appeal or application is based.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the appellant or applicant alleges corruption or fraud.
Arbitration Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 17, s. 47
Corrections and additional awards, s. 44; costs, s. 54(3)44(1) An arbitral tribunal may, on its own initiative within thirty days after making an award or at a party's request made within thirty days after receiving the award, (a) correct typographical errors, errors of calculation and similar errors in the award; or (b) amend the award so as to correct an injustice caused by an oversight on the part of the arbitral tribunal.
44(2) The arbitral tribunal may, on its own initiative at any time or at a party's request made within thirty days after receiving the award, make an additional award to deal with a claim that was presented in the arbitration but omitted from the earlier award.
54(3) If the arbitral tribunal does not deal with costs in an award, a party may, within thirty days of receiving the award, request that it make a further award dealing with costs.
Arbitration Act, 1991, ss. 44 and 54(3)
Jurisdiction, s. 17(8) to (10); leave to appeal, s. 4917(8) If the arbitral tribunal rules on an objection as a preliminary question, a party may, within thirty days after receiving notice of the ruling, make an application to the court to decide the matter. (9) There is no appeal from the court's decision. (10) While an application is pending, the arbitral tribunal may continue the arbitration and make an award.
49 An appeal from the court's decision in an appeal of an award, an application to set aside an award or an application for a declaration of invalidity may be made to the Court of Appeal, with leave of that court.
Arbitration Act, 1991, ss. 17 and 49
Enforcement, ss. 50(3), 50(5) and 52(3)50(3) The court shall give a judgment enforcing an award made in Ontario unless, (a) the thirty-day period for commencing an appeal or an application to set the award aside has not yet elapsed; (b) there is a pending appeal, application to set the award aside or application for a declaration of invalidity; (c) the award has been set aside or the arbitration is the subject of a declaration of invalidity; or (d) the award is a family arbitration award.
50(5) If the period for commencing an appeal, application to set the award aside or application for a declaration of invalidity has not yet elapsed, or if such a proceeding is pending, the court may, (a) enforce the award; or (b) order, on such conditions as are just, that enforcement of the award is stayed until the period has elapsed without such a proceeding being commenced, or until the pending proceeding is finally disposed of.
52(3) An application to enforce an award shall not be commenced after the later of December 31, 2018 and the tenth anniversary of, (a) the day the award was received; or (b) if an application to set aside the award was commenced, the date on which the application was finally determined.
Arbitration Act, 1991, ss. 50 and 52
International awards, Model Law, arts. 16(3), 33(1), (3) and 34(3), and ICAA, s. 10Art. 16(3) ... If the arbitral tribunal rules as a preliminary question that it has jurisdiction, any party may request, within thirty days after having received notice of that ruling, the court specified in article 6 to decide the matter, which decision shall be subject to no appeal; while such a request is pending, the arbitral tribunal may continue the arbitral proceedings and make an award.
Art. 33(1) Within thirty days of receipt of the award, unless another period of time has been agreed upon by the parties: (a) a party, with notice to the other party, may request the arbitral tribunal to correct in the award any errors in computation, any clerical or typographical errors or any errors of similar nature; (b) if so agreed by the parties, a party, with notice to the other party, may request the arbitral tribunal to give an interpretation of a specific point or part of the award. ... (3) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, a party, with notice to the other party, may request, within thirty days of receipt of the award, the arbitral tribunal to make an additional award as to claims presented in the arbitral proceedings but omitted from the award. ...
Art. 34(3) An application for setting aside may not be made after three months have elapsed from the date on which the party making that application had received the award or, if a request had been made under article 33, from the date on which that request had been disposed of by the arbitral tribunal.
ICAA, s. 10 No application under the Convention or the Model Law for recognition or enforcement (or both) of an arbitral award shall be made after the later of December 31, 2018 and the tenth anniversary of, (a) the date on which the award was made; or (b) if proceedings at the place of arbitration to set aside the award were commenced, the date on which the proceedings concluded.
International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 2, Sched. 5, s. 10 and Schedule 2
Computation of time, Legislation Act, 2006, s. 89, and rules 3.01 and 61.03.1s. 89(1) Time limits that would otherwise expire on a holiday are extended to include the next day that is not a holiday. (2) Time limits for registering or filing documents or for doing anything else that expire on a day when the place for doing so is not open during its regular hours of business are extended to include the next day the place is open during its regular hours of business. (5) A period of time described as beginning before or after a specified day excludes that day. (6) If a period of time is described as a number of months before or after a specified day, the following rules apply: 1. The number of months is counted from the specified day, excluding the month in which the specified day falls. 2. The period includes the day in the last month counted that has the same calendar number as the specified day or, if that month has no day with that number, its last day.
rule 3.01(1) In the computation of time under these rules or an order, except where a contrary intention appears, (a) where there is a reference to a number of days between two events, they shall be counted by excluding the day on which the first event happens and including the day on which the second event happens ...; (b) where a period of seven days or less is prescribed, holidays shall not be counted; (c) where the time for doing an act expires on a holiday, the act may be done on the next day that is not a holiday ...
rule 61.03.1(3) The notice of motion, (a) shall be served within 15 days after the making of the order or decision from which leave to appeal is sought, unless a statute provides otherwise; and (b) shall be filed with proof of service in the office of the Registrar within five days after service. (6) Within 30 days after filing the notice of motion for leave to appeal, the moving party shall file the motion record, factum and any transcripts and book of authorities, with proof of service.
Legislation Act, 2006, s. 89; Rules of Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194
Short answers to the questions that arrive with the award. For anything specific to your situation, the answer has to come from a lawyer you have retained.
On the day after the party receives the award (s. 47(1); Legislation Act, 2006, s. 89(5)). The date printed on the award does not start the period, and neither does the tribunal's release of the award to the institution; what matters is when the award reached the party or its lawyer. Where the tribunal later issues a correction, an explanation, a change or a statement of reasons, an appeal or application based on that document runs from its receipt, but an application based on the original award still runs from receipt of the award.
No. The Court of Appeal held in R & G Draper Farms (Keswick) Ltd. v. 1758691 Ontario Inc., 2014 ONCA 278, at ¶¶ 18-21, that the Act gives the court no discretion to extend the period, and it repeated the point in Campbell v. Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 2600, 2024 ONCA 218, at ¶ 48. Rule 3.02 of the Rules of Civil Procedure extends time prescribed by the Rules or an order, not time prescribed by a statute. The one exception is s. 47(2), where the applicant alleges corruption or fraud, and "fraud" there does not include constructive fraud (Campbell, at ¶ 55). Our article on setting aside an arbitral award in Ontario covers the grounds and the cases.
Under the Arbitration Act, 1991, no. A party may ask the tribunal within thirty (30) days after receiving the award to correct errors, amend the award for an oversight or make an additional award on an omitted claim (s. 44), and to make a further award on costs where the award is silent (s. 54(3)), but the period for appealing or setting aside the award itself keeps running from receipt of the award; only a challenge based on the correction runs from the correction. Under the Model Law the answer differs; a request under article 33 moves the start of the three (3) months to the day the tribunal disposes of it (art. 34(3)).
An appeal or an application to set aside is commenced by issuing a notice of appeal or a notice of application in the court office (rule 14.01), and the office is closed on Saturdays. Section 89(2) of the Legislation Act, 2006 extends a time limit for filing a document that ends on a day the place for filing is not open to the next day it is open, so a thirtieth day that falls on a Saturday runs to the Monday, or to the next day the office is open after a long weekend. The Ontario High Court applied the predecessor provision to a two-year limitation period that ended on a Saturday in Kapularic v. Longphee (1990), 42 C.P.C. (2d) 313, and the Divisional Court applied s. 89 to a one-year period that ended on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend in Ashford v. Johnson, 2014 ONSC 5825. The online portals do not change the answer, because a document submitted through them is issued on the date in the registrar's confirmation (rules 4.05.2(9) and 4.05.2.1(5)). A request to the tribunal for a correction is different; it is not filed in an office, so a Saturday last day is not moved, and the page flags it. The safe course in every case is to act on the Friday.
The International Commercial Arbitration Act, 2017 applies to an international commercial arbitration, which the Model Law defines in art. 1(3) by the parties' places of business, the seat, the place of performance or the parties' agreement that the subject matter relates to more than one country. Every other arbitration under an arbitration agreement is governed by the Arbitration Act, 1991 (s. 2(1)). The difference is two (2) months of recourse, thirty (30) days against three (3), and in R & G Draper Farms an applicant who assumed the longer period was out of time under the shorter one.
For an award made in Ontario, the court shall give judgment enforcing it on application unless the thirty (30) days for an appeal or set-aside application have not yet elapsed, such a proceeding is pending, the award has been set aside or the arbitration declared invalid, or the award is a family arbitration award (s. 50(3)). Before the period has elapsed, or while a proceeding is pending, the court may still enforce the award or may stay enforcement on terms (s. 50(5)). The application must be commenced within ten (10) years of receipt of the award or of the final determination of a set-aside application (s. 52(3)). An international award is recognized and enforced under arts. 35 and 36 of the Model Law within the ten (10) years in s. 10 of the ICAA, which run from the day the award was made. Our article on enforcing an arbitral award in Ontario covers the procedure.
Then there is no appeal on a question of law, fact or mixed fact and law, because s. 45 permits an appeal only where the agreement does not deal with appeals (with leave, on a question of law) or provides for one. An application to set aside the award under s. 46 remains available, since s. 3 does not allow the parties to contract out of s. 46, and so does an application for a declaration of invalidity under s. 48 by a party who did not participate. Both must be commenced within the thirty (30) days. Our article on appealing an arbitral award in Ontario explains the leave test and the standard of review.
The statutes as consolidated on e-Laws, the two decisions of the Court of Appeal on the time limit, and the firm's articles on each step. The page is reviewed when the law changes; the last review date is shown in the results.
The dates above are general information, computed in your browser from what you entered, about Ontario law as it stood on the review date shown in the results. They are not advice about your matter, and they do not say whether an appeal or an application would succeed. Grigoras Law does not give advice about a deadline to anyone who is not its client. A message, a telephone call or an intake form about a date on this page does not retain the firm, does not create a lawyer-client relationship, will not be answered on the deadline, and does not stop any period from running; only the step itself does that. If you want advice on your own dates, retain a lawyer, and do it well before the earliest date shown; the retainer comes first, the advice after.
