Canada has long marketed itself as a safe, rules-based destination for foreign capital, close to the U.S., rich in resources, and governed by predictable law. But a growing docket of international arbitration claims is beginning to challenge that image, raising questions about how Ottawa balances national security, geopolitics, and investor protection at a time of increasing global tension.
The number of treaty-based disputes against Canada is quietly rising. With four cases now pending before the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and additional claims under other arbitration rules, Canada finds itself defending policies that foreign investors argue have crossed from regulation into expropriation.
