The appellant employer sought evocation of a labour arbitration award that substituted a suspension for an employee's dismissal under a collective agreement governed by the Canada Labour Code.
The central issue was whether the arbitrator was a statutory tribunal within art. 846 C.C.P. and therefore subject to the Superior Court's superintending jurisdiction.
The Court held that, because the Code conferred broad statutory powers and duties on the arbitrator, the tribunal was statutory notwithstanding the parties' ability to choose arbitration as a dispute-resolution method.
The allegations that the arbitrator refused to hear admissible and relevant evidence had to be taken as true at the authorization stage and disclosed an excess or refusal of jurisdiction.
The appeal was allowed and issuance of a writ of evocation was authorized.
