Forum selection and arbitration clauses are a mainstay of international commercial agreements. Contracting parties often negotiate and insert a clause specifying either the chosen forum for adjudicating any disputes arising from the contractual relationship, or agreeing to arbitrate the dispute.

This paper will briefly explore the implications of promoting a social contract model for advancing and adjudicating international human rights claims in Canada from the perspective of the differing judicial approaches to the enforceability of forum selection and arbitration clauses.

This paper was presented at The Annual Meeting of the World Institute for Research and Publication - Law (June 4 - 6, 2010).