The Convention's aim is not to limit the pre-existing freedom of the Contracting States to
treat foreign arbitral awards or arbitration agreements as favourably as they please, but rather to facilitate their recognition and enforcement to the greatest extent possible.
This decision has been the subject of considerable discussion among arbitration practitioners: as was discussed several months ago on Slaw, the case raises a number of difficult questions about how international arbitration and Canada's treaty obligations in that respect interact with local procedural law — specifically limitation of actions — when seeking to enforce the
award, and more generally whether
foreign judgments and
arbitral awards should continue to be
treated, for limitations purposes, as mere contract debts.