THE ADVOCATE 233
VOL. 80 PART 2 MARCH 2022
A VIEW FROM
THE CENTRE
By Barry Penner, Q.C.*
TAKING ON THE CHALLENGES OF 2022
With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to shape the global landscape, we
are all living in “interesting” times. Despite these challenges to many
aspects our lives, the Vancouver International Arbitration Centre
(“VanIAC”) continues to adapt and grow. We have implemented social distancing
measures. Hearings are now routinely conducted by teleconference,
by video or in writing, but have also been safely conducted in person
with appropriate precautions, using hearing space we have arranged.
While courts in British Columbia and elsewhere have periodically
reduced in-person hearings and certain other operations in the past two
years, VanIAC has continued to provide services without interruption.
BUSIEST YEAR EVER
In fact, last year was the busiest in our 36-year history (we opened the doors
in 1986), with the total amount in dispute exceeding C$1 billion for the first
time. For the fourth year in a row, we opened a record number of files, representing
an increase of more than fifty per cent since 2019.
2021 was our first full year of operations since our board of directors
approved a major re-branding, our first since we were established in 1986.
As a result, we are no longer known as the British Columbia International
Commercial Arbitration Centre, but we continue to administer disputes
arising from commercial leases, shareholder agreements, construction projects,
First Nations business ventures, forestry, employment, ICBC underinsured
motorist cases and other matters arising in British Columbia,
elsewhere in Canada or abroad.
* Barry Penner, Q.C., is the managing director of the Vancouver International Arbitration Centre.