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Gerry Ghikas, the Vancouver-based chairman of the international trade and arbitration group of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and current chairman of the arbitration committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, says the initial reception by government to his group's request has been encouraging. "It is early days but it is very positive. Certainly the federal government was all over it in terms of being aware of it. The provincial governments were less on top of the issue but very receptive to the idea that we have to make sure that our international arbi- tration legislation is current and serving the purpose." Ghikas, who is heading up a task force pushing for adoption of the changes to the model law, says the issue would be tackled by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada at its regular meeting in August. The ULC has a mandate to harmonize the laws of the provinces and territories of Canada and, where appropriate, federal laws. "I think we now have this issue front and centre at the Uniform Law Conference and my hope is that they will designate it as a project and they and we can work together to start to come up with some draft changes to the legislation." In May, France, which, like Canada, was one of the early adopters of UNICTRAL's Model Law in 1985 and is one of the most pro-arbitration venues internationally, implemented changes to its arbitration legislation intended to incorporate changes to arbitration law and doctrine over the past 30 years and make its law more accessible to non-spe- cialists and practitioners outside of the country. Paris is aggressively marketed as an arbitration destination, touted in a recent brochure as "the home of inter- national arbitration" that for more than a century "has hosted many thousands of international arbitrations, many of which have no links with France." Other cities such as New York and London are getting the glossy brochure promotional treatment. Miami is touting itself as "an international arbitration centre for the Americas and beyond." Keeping pace with such market- ing efforts, even if Canadian cities can't LaneArbitration_CL_Sept11.indd 1 www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com SEPTEMBER 2011 4111-08-12 1:23 PM make the advertising budgets of the likes of New York, London, and Paris, needs to be done by the Canadian arbitration centres, says Earl Cherniak, a partner with Lerners LLP and chairman of the Toronto Commercial Arbitration Society. "We haven't been doing enough to get the word out to the users around the world of commercial arbitration of the advan- tages of Canada in general and Toronto in particular," he says. "In terms of our legal system, in terms of the number and experience and seniority and capabil- ity of our arbitrators, of our arbitration bar, of the links our arbitration bar has with the commercial court, how Canada and Ontario in particular are arbitration- friendly centres. The important thing for international commercial arbitration is to get the word out."